


Try Again

by Holly_chasing_Life



Series: Try Again [1]
Category: Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon)
Genre: (it's not really), Both Pairs, Car Accidents, Character Study, Coma, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Family Drama, Friendship, Gen, Giant car accidents putting seven year olds in a ten year coma, Help how do I tag, In a way, Insomnia, M/M, Manipulation of Emotions, Memory Loss, Mild Angst, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Oh hi Dip- and bye, Oh hi Greg and Wirt, Oh hi Mabel!, Or People, Other, Parties, Rebirth AU, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, There's Dipper again, Underage Drinking, Will doesn't understand family, Yep this is definitely a Slow Burn now, and I don't mean the Crystal Gems, another set of twins, drama I guess, i have my reasons for this, improvised medical mumbo jumbo, magical gemstones, of course they have family/friends, seemingly? doctors say it is DID, the twins have it hard, these boys had a life before being hit by a truck, this is getting longer and longer, you won't hear from dipper and wirt for a while
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2019-06-10 11:44:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 48
Words: 214,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15290826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holly_chasing_Life/pseuds/Holly_chasing_Life
Summary: After a tragic accident at an early age of eight years, Willard and Clifford Taylor had been in a deep coma for almost ten years. It was expected that upon waking up, they wouldn't be the same, but as it turns out, their entire memory from before the accident seems to have disappeared.Now, these twins are tasked with rediscovering themselves in between strange dreams, déjà-vus, their reintegration into a normal teenage life and missing memories.Meanwhile, fragments of demons long believed to be dead and gone are alive as these boys. Their more demonic sides weak, invisible and nearly unnoticeable for now, but a constant companion nonetheless.Well, they may be nearly unrecognisable, but at least they get to try again at life. That's a big thing.Updates every Sunday (/^w^)/ ~♥





	1. Voicing Concern

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone :)  
> This is my first post on AO3, and I hope to motivate myself to write more often by just being on this website.  
> I had this idea a while back, and it's mutated and took over my brain when I wasn't paying attention, so I wrote a story! This will mostly be a Character Study for Bill/Will and Beast/Clifford.  
> The first chapter was fun to write, even though I had to read up on all kinds of medical stuff, and most of this is made up (so sorry for anyone with actual medical knowledge reading this...^_^'), so please don't look too closely into this?  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy!  
> Holly ~♥
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls or Over the Garden Wall

Nobody had expected them to ever wake up again.

After Willard and Clifford Taylor had been in the intensive care unit of Piedmonts hospital for a total of five years, most of the doctors and even their parents had been ready to give up hope, when all of a sudden, on a warm summer day, the machines registered increased brain activity in one of the boys. Immediately the doctors were calling their parents to the hospital, even though they warned that he may not be waking up fully.

“Hurry up!”

“I’m on my way, dear” Sam Taylor yelled back from their doorstep. His wife drummed her fingers on the console of the car.

“I thought you might appreciate it if I locked up before we left.” he said when he slipped into the already running car.

“Will is waking up, we have to hurry!”

However, it would take much longer until anything noteworthy would happen again. Sam and Annie sat by their sons’ bedsides for forty-two hours before they were convinced to leave for longer periods of time again. They did however tend to come more often after knowing one of their twins was getting better. It filled them with hope to know that Will was waking up, even though he was the one who got the worst of the crash.

His entire right side had been slammed into by the truck that had crashed into their school bus during that fateful Christmas trip and he had to undergo surgery so that his broken ribs and his head wound wouldn’t kill him. It already was a miracle that the then seven-year-old had survived the crash itself, much less the next weeks after the surgery. But when he joined Clifford in his comatose state, it became clear that he was still far from good health.

And even now that he appeared to become more active, it was only his body starting to heal itself again.

Three years after the first ‘wake-up’ scare, their parents called off their Halloween date after another phone call from the hospital reporting that the Clifford was now also showing more brain activity than before. He had had a concussion and severe whiplash, but apart from a broken leg, and bruised back, not many worse injuries. However, the neurologists of the hospital had found that Cliff's brain had suffered great damage in the area of his cerebral cortex and that it would most likely alter and maybe totally erase his memory, should he ever wake up. Now, however, that damage seemed to repair itself.

“This is literally impossible! The connections were severed, the only way they could be rebuilt was if he was actually learning something!” ranted Cliff's neurologist, Dr. Henry Mort.

“And if you tell me it’s magic, sir, we just want to know if he’s waking up!” Sam insisted while holding his wife close. Dr. Mort sighed.

“Technically speaking, they are on the way to recovery. They are physically in the best condition they can be. Now we just wait.”

From then on, they did. The boys both took a long time waking up, and every other year they would show signs of waking up, only to fall back into their comatose state.

 

\---B-----L-----E-----T-----E-----I----

 

"I just don't know anymore, dear. Will they even be the same as before?" Annie sighed and stood from the uncomfortable plastic hospital chair to cross the room. She laid a hand on Will's cheek.

"The accident alone must have been enough to traumatize them, but if they ever wake up they will be in a body that is ten years older than their minds."

Her husband walked up to her and took her in his arms.

"It will be okay, An. Clifford will certainly have it easier, he always was very mature, and I'm sure Willard will also be able to handle it. He is very headstrong; he won't give up. Neither of them will."

It was obvious to his wife that he was no longer talking about the twins’ ability to adapt to their situation, but about the likelihood of either even waking up again. A wave of hopelessness swept over her, brought on by a decade of waiting for her children to awake from their accident-induced coma.

The accident itself had been tragic. It happened during a pre-Christmas class trip that their school had organised. The bus their class had taken had been rammed by a truck driver who had lost control over the truck during a blizzard. Most of the second graders were only hurt superficially and a few got lucky and didn't get harmed at all. However, the twins that had been unfortunate enough to sit in the back row, where the truck hit the bus. The children in that part of the bus were hurt the worst and many were hospitalized for weeks, some of them took a week to wake up, so for a while, everyone had believed that little Will and Cliff would wake up soon as well.

They did not.

Annie turned towards her husband and buried her face in his shoulder before the sobs started to claw their way out of her.

Sams grip tightened around her.

They rarely visited nowadays, at least compared to the first month when they made sure one of them was at the hospital all the time. Their visits had lessened over the years and now they checked up on the boys every month and whenever the hospital called them because of increased activity. Only a few days ago, they had been visiting two motionless seventeen-year-olds and just this morning they got a call that their heart rates were picking up.

"Hng..."

The adults snapped around at the sound, eyes darting between Cliff and Will, trying to figure out who had made the sound. Neither of them had heard a single sound from their boys in years and now both of the twins’ heart rates were getting faster than before and Willards face twisted into a pained frown.

Sam hastily let go of his wife and pressed the button to call a nurse, while Annie rushed back and forth between Will and Clifford, the latter now also beginning to stir.

 

\---I-----&\-----A-----A-----A-----V----

 

Hurts.

Too bright.

Why is it so bright?

Isn't it supposed to be much darker?

Ouch.

He was barely able to peel his eyes open before he had to clench them shut again. Immediately after, sound seemed to explode around him.

"-ights off, he ca-"

"-ard is waking up t-

"-ease, you should lea-"

"-aven't been with them for years, how ca-"

"-some calm and quiet, come on."

It got much quieter.

"Are you doing alright?" A calm, female voice asked.

He tried to get his voice to work, but could only manage a small groan.

"Who?"

A deep voice came from his left, seeming groggy and slurred.

"That is your brother, I believe he might be awake too. Are you? Clifford?"

He tried opening his eyes again, since his voice seemed to fail him for the moment. This time, he was not met with the harsh brightness from before.

"There you go. We dimmed the lights and closed the curtains. It should be better now, right?"

He turned his head. Even this small movement made him feel like lead. He could slowly make out the fuzzy shapes of a room. There were white walls, a soft blue floor, a table with chairs and another bed. Suddenly, there was movement at the foot if his bed.

He didn't even realize he was in a bed.

The movement had come from a person in soft blue scrubs.

'Nurse' his brain supplied.

He has no idea how he knows this.

"What...?"

He wanted to ask what happened, what is going on, where am I. So many questions and he was pretty sure he already mangled that 'what?' beyond recognition.

Nevertheless, the nurse answered.

"Now, you both are awake right now? Try to make any movement that is easiest for you."

He tried to move his fingers, his head, anything at all, but didn't feel like he was having any success, so he croaked out a hoarse "Yeah".

"Oh dear, try not to speak too much, alright? Those vocal cords haven't been in use for a long time."

He heard rustling and then the female voice, slightly panicked: "Don't! You cannot sit up on your own yet! Let me help you!"

He hadn't even realized that his eyes had slipped closed again, so he reopened them and concentrated more on keeping them open.

The nurse was standing near the other bed, helping a young man sit up and adjusting the bed so it supported him.

"There. Please don't do that again."

“Why?” He whispered as loudly as he could without using his vocal cords. Kind of like speaking with a bad cough.

"Oh, both of you. You," she turned towards him " are going to break your vocal chords if you continue, and you," She turned back towards the other " are going to overwork yourself. You will get your answers soon, I'm just here to let you get adjusted to the light and to make sure you are conscious before the doctor arrives."

She walked over to the window to the left of his bed.

"I am going to open the curtains step-by-step, alright? Try not to look directly into the light, please."

She opened the curtains to his left side and a small bit and bright sunlight spilled inside. He immediately clenched shut his eyes, before turning the other way and looking at the person in the bed next to him. The man, or maybe still a boy, had his eye mostly open. He blinked a few times to confirm. Yes, eye. His right one was covered with gauze.

“Is this alright?” asked the nurse.

After receiving the barest of nods from him, as well as a spoken confirmation from the other boy, which she immediately scolded, she sighed. “I’ll go get some water, do not” she fixated the other “move.”

After she opened the curtains a tad more, she left through one of the two doors in the room. As soon as it closed behind her, the other grinned weakly and looked at him.

“Hey” the Other whispered hoarsely.

What the nurse had said before kept him silent. His voice was important to him. He didn't know why, but it was scary to think of losing it. He shook his head slightly, with what he assumed was a scandalized look on his face.

The Other made a weird sounding noise that might have been a chuckle.

“Who?” he asked the Other

‘What is he asking? Who? …. Who am I?’

He paused, his eyes widening.

‘Who am I?’

He frowned. The Other was still staring, so he shrugged. He stared back intensely.

“Me?” the Others face twitched in an odd way. He looked scared for a second.

“Same…”

There were only a few seconds of silence before the door opened again. He could catch a glimpse of soft orange tiles. He kind of liked that colour. The nurse was pressed a few buttons on his bed and he felt himself sitting up.

“Alright, I have some water for you.” The nurse raised a cup to his mouth to help him drink. The water rushing down his throat was an incredible feeling.

“There, try to say something now.”

“Who a-” his voice got stuck. He coughed for a short while, before the other glass of water the nurse had was offered.

“We might need some syrup.” the nurse said, as if to herself, before reaching for her phone and typing something in. Then she opened the curtains a bit further and returned to the bathroom again.

He caught the look the Other was giving him. ‘Ask’, it said. He nodded, and the Other grinned, a bit less pained now.

When she came back however, she gave the two glasses to the Other, who voiced his concerns the second she set the second glass down.

“Who are we?” the Other croaked. He didn’t seem to have trouble with speaking as much as he himself did.

The nurse gave the Other a look. “Shush.” Then she sighed and looked from the Other to him. “Do neither of you know your names?”

They shook their heads. She went to the table and scribbled something on a notepad before going to the curtains again and opening them the rest of the way.

“You’ll have to speak to the doctor I’m afraid.”

Just then, the door opened and said doctor entered the room. He was relatively short and skinny, with glasses and a giant smile on his face.

“Hello, boys. It is great to see you awake. I’m Dr. Daniels.”

“Anything else you need?” the nurse asked, but the doctor shook his head.

“Go and take care of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, they must be worried. Just tell them everything will be fine and explain why you had to kick them out.”

“Yes, sir.” She leaned closer to tell the doctor something he couldn’t make out. Dr. Daniels just nodded once and wrote something on his notepad.

Once the nurse left the room, Dr. Daniels turned to them.

“Alright, boys, first things first: Mrs. Frosts tells me you have mentioned not knowing your names, is that correct?”

He nodded and saw that the Other did as well.

“Alright then, I hope you know that speaking in your condition might not be beneficial to your vocal cords, I hope you were told this?”

Again they nodded. However, he did sense a lot of annoyance coming from the Other.

“Good. So, about your names…I assume it is not just those, am I right? Do you remember anything from before?”

He shook his head. The Other thought for a moment, then did the same.

“Alright, alright…” the doctor wrote down some more on his clipboard.

“Names.” the Other insisted with a gruff voice. It seemed to stem more from frustration than the condition of his throat.

“Oho, alright, didn’t mean to make you wait. You are Willard Taylor” he gestured at the Other “and Clifford Tylor.” Now Dr. Daniels was looking at him.

‘Clifford? Seems like a fancy name.’

“You are twins.”

He looked across the room to the Oth- to Willard.

“Will.” the boy insisted.

“That’s what your parents called you, do you remember that?”

Will shook his head. “Willard’s just stupid”

Dr. Daniels laughed loudly. “Alright, I can’t argue with that!”

He took out two pens and gave one of them to Clifford.

“Here, how do you use this?”

Clifford looked down at the pen. It was a simple ballpoint pen, he just had to push on the button at the end.

“Good. Now here” he handed him his clipboard. A worksheet was tacked in.

“Could you please fill this out?”

Dr. Daniels then went over to Will and repeated the process.

“I’m stepping outside for a bit, I will be back with your parents in fifteen minutes, alright? Also, don’t copy! There is a camera in here, alright?” he grinned and left the room.

Clifford looked down at the sheet.

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Gender:**

He stared.

‘Dr. Daniels has told us our names, but not how they’re spelled… Is he trying to see how we would spell them? And he didn’t tell us our age either...’

He looked down at himself, then at his supposed twin. He smiled and brought the pen to the paper.

 

**Name: Clifford Tailor**

**Age: around 17?**

**Gender: Male**

** Math **

  * **5+3=____**
  * **11+12= _____**
  * **10-5= _____**
  * **17-8=_____**
  * **2x4=_____**
  * **4x4=_____**
  * **9x7=_____**
  * **6/3=______**
  * **21/3=______**
  * **7/2=_____**
  * **(1028/4) + 3= ____________**



 

Clifford frowned. Except for that last one, these questions were easy.

‘What is this test even for?’

** Math **

  * **5+3= 8**
  * **11+12= 23**
  * **10-5= 5**
  * **17-8= 9**
  * **2x4= 8**
  * **5x3= 15**
  * **9x7= 63**
  * **6/3= 2**
  * **21/3= 7**
  * **7/2= 3,5**



He thought for a minute.

 

  * **(1028/4)+3= 257+3= 260**



**/2 = 514**

**/4 = 257**

 

There. That should be right.

** Spelling - Correct the following text **

**i see a snoman**

**_________________________**

**he is waering a black hat**

__________________________

**the scarf is red**

__________________________

**my neybour build it**

__________________________

**he also build a egloo**

__________________________

 

He chuckled. Will looked over for a second, then skimmed his sheet and grinned as well.

** Spelling - Correct the following text **

**i see a snoman**

**I see a snowman.**

**he is waering a black hat**

**He is wearing a black hat.**

**the scarf is red**

**The scarf is red.**

**my neybour build it**

**My neighbour built it.**

**he also build a egloo**

**He also built an igloo.**

 

Cliff frowned. There was nothing else on this page.

 

“That’s it?” Will flipped his sheet over to look at the back of it, then threw a sceptical glance at his supposed twin.

Cliff just shrugged. After taking a look at the clock and seeing that the doctor had only left the room 3 minutes ago, he started doodling on the back of his sheet.

Will, however, got bored after doodling a little Christmas tree in the corner of his sheet, so he put it on his nightstand and then braced himself with his elbows against the bedding.

The other teen saw him move.

“Hey!” he whispered with a scolding tone.

Will just threw him a smirk and pushed himself further up into a sitting position, legs dangling off the side of the bed. He looked down and grimaced at the sight of his IV.

“Just gonna…” he trailed off in a cough, which turned into a whole coughing fit.

Apparently, the doctor had heard this, and shortly after the first few coughs, the door opened again.

“Oh, Will, what are you doing, boy? You shouldn’t be sitting up.”

The coughing boy let himself flop back down into the bed and wheezed a few times.

“Here, have some more water.”

Dr. Daniels offered him his glass of water, which he drank greedily to soothe his dry throat.

“Done.” He rasped.

“And you shouldn’t be talking either, alright?” Dr. Daniels shoulders slumped and he had an exasperated look on his face. “You were less of a troublemaker when you were still asleep.”

Will rolled his eyes and pointed to the worksheet on his table, and then at Cliff.

The doctor fixed his glasses and reached for the paper. After looking it over, he frowned.

“Alright?” he gestured to Cliff “I guess you are done as well?”

The boy nodded and gave his worksheet to him. He looked this over as well, then he nodded.

“I’ll be back in a while. I’m going to get you more water and some cough syrup, alright?” he asked with a concerned look.

The twins nodded, then the doctor left again.

 

\---L-----B-----S-----R-----L-----E----

 

Annie and Sam sat outside their sons’ door, waiting for the doctor to come back out and let them see their children again.

A while ago, they had been sent outside to wait, since they would have scared the boys in their frazzled state. By now, even Annie had calmed down enough to see the reasoning behind this.

"Oh god, I must have acted so childishly. Do you think that I was irresponsible? What if they don't let us take them home?! That happens sometimes after giving birth, they don't let the mothers take their babies home because they think they are too irresponsible or-"

"Calm down, An." Sam laid his hands on her face and leaned in to lay his forehead against hers. "You and me both are worried parents who have waited ten years for their sons to wake up from their comatose state after a terrible accident. I believe they won’t judge us for being a little childish and thoughtless. We didn't expect the boys to wake up again and now that they have, we don't know what to do or expect. And that is alright. And you know Henrick, he’ll understand."

"You're right. Of course you are. I'm just......worried? Like you said, we didn't expect that they would wake up and now.... we still have their old bunk bed. They won't even fit in there, and I don't even know if they still want to share a room now. And we don't even have another room left, unless we clear out the attic."

"Let's worry about that later, alright? We know we have a lot to do, but for now, let's wait for Henrick and see how our sons are, alright?"

Just then, Dr. Henrick Daniels came back out of the room. He had been with the family for the entire experience, and they had become well acquainted over the years. The Taylors knew he felt a sense of responsibility for the boys and they were glad to have someone they could trust. Right now, however, they were a little concerned, since the doctor no longer wore the large grin he had since first hearing the boys had officially woken up.

“What’s wrong?”

He sighed.

"I would like to ask you not to expect too much, alright? There is little to no chance that they will be the same as all those years ago. Waking from a coma is more than just the actual waking up. Usually, patients will have to relearn many things, from basic motor skills to speech. Most likely, they are going to be very different in personality and temper. Their head injuries may influence their mood, make them prone to sudden aggressiveness, so I suggest to prepare yourselves for that, alright? And these are just general effects the brain damage could have. After the MRT, we will be able to tell you more. We just need you to understand that before getting up your hopes too much." He paused and looked down at the two sheets of paper. “Alright. Now, I need you to try and remember: When they were in second grade, what had they already learned, and how good were they at those things?”

“Huh, why?” Annie stood from her seat.

“Due to the… rather unusual new connections that were made in their brains during the past couple years, our neurologists allowed themselves the gag of putting in a few harder tasks into their tests. They believed the boys might be able to solve them with the new layout their minds seemed to have. But those were not problems they should have been able to solve as second graders.”

He handed over the tests.

“They solved all of them in less than five minutes.”


	2. Extended Stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again (^o^)/  
> If anyone reading this has a glass eye and wants to tell me how impossible this is: I know. I tried. And this is a world in which gnomes and unicorns and demons exist. So your point is a bit less valid. Still, thank you for reading ^_^'  
> Also, if I start focusing too little on one character, I would like you to tell me. I tend to put either a lot of focus on one character or too little on any, so I'm still trying to correct that.  
> Holly ~♥
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls or Over the Garden Wall.

It turned out that the twins’ brains were in a very unique condition that the neurologists and psychologists of the hospital had never seen before. While both seemed to have kept abilities concerning their everyday life, their actual memory was nearly entirely gone.

It was rough at first, both twins having no idea who their parents were or what they were to each other. It took a whole month before they were able to stand up, move around and talk and act normally. Getting used to their parents and each other was something else entirely.

 

++++++8+7+ +19+14++++++

 

The Taylors had to wait a bit longer than usual to see their children, and by now even Sam was getting a little anxious. When they saw Henrick come back with two bottles of water and an armload of little boxes in tow, they walked over to him immediately. ~~~~

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I know, I took too long, alright? The neurology department went crazy; I’ll have to do something about that as soon as possible.” ~~~~

He handed off one of the bottles to Sam.

“Alright, how about we go greet your kids? But,” he added once seeing Annie nearly implode with joy. “remember that they’ll most likely not recognize you. I don’t want to be harsh, but that is the truth.”

She nodded, still smiling with tears in her eyes. “And if they never do, I would not care. I just want to see them in the eyes and hear their voices again.” ~~~~

“Well, they are not supposed to talk yet, but Will seems hell-bent on ignoring every rule he hears.” He chuckled. “But after I give them their cough syrup, they should be able to talk a little better, so we’ll just have to wait and see, alright? Can you just wait one more second? I’ll have to warn them.”

After the parents showed their agreement, Dr. Daniels opened the door to the twins’ room and strolled in. They heard him say a few muffled things to their sons’, then the door opened again. ~~~~

“You’re alright, come in.” ~~~~

When she met their eyes for the first time in a decade, it took Annie's entire force of will to not launch herself towards her children. Between Sam and her, she always had been the more emotional one.

Dr. Daniels was in the process of handing Will one of the small boxes of cough syrup and explaining to the twins how to take their medicines. ~~~~

“- and also, if you ever need any help with anything, press the nurse button here, alright?” he gestured to the button near their beds. “Now, just take the first dosis of the cough syrup, that should make it easier for you to talk and help heal any damage you’ve already done to your throats.” He fixed Will with a reprimanding look over the rim of his glasses.

The teen just smirked and swallowed a mouthful of cough syrup.

“…Fantastic.” the doctor deadpanned.

“What are your names?” Will stared at the Taylors. Both were still practically glued to the floor near the door, but being addressed directly shook Sam out of his stupor.

“My name is Sam Taylor, I’m… I’m your dad.” For once, even Sam couldn’t hold back the tears anymore and he slowly approached their beds, pulling his wife along with him. “This is Annie, she’s your mom.”

Annie tried to wipe away the tears from her face, but mostly failed. She let out a small, relieved laugh. “We waited. For so long. You were sleeping for- for so long!”

“I don’t remember you.” Will said with only the barest hint of confusion. Dr. Daniel pulled out a box of tissues from the armload he had left on the table and handed it to the distraught parents.

“Here.” He turned to the teens “Don’t feel bad about not remembering, alright? The damage of your brains was severe enough to erase most of your memory and block the rest. It’s a strange thing really, with this damage it should have been impossible for you to solve the problems I gave you like that.”

“So…we’re weird?”

“I wouldn’t say that. You’re just… something new. We don’t understand some of what happened to you, so we will have psychologists assigned to each of you to figure out how you function mentally after this whole ordeal.”

“What happened?” Cliff asked quietly.

“It was a week before Christmas break.” Sam spoke up. He pulled up two chairs for him and Annie. “You were just seven years old, and your second grade teacher wanted to take your class on a Christmas trip to a ski lodge. On your way there-” he trailed off.

Henrick noticed and picked up where Sam had left off. “The school bus had been caught in a blizzard, and when a truck driver lost control on the frozen road, his truck slammed into the bus. The truck hit the backside of the bus, where you and your friends were sitting. The two of you got the worst of it, and you were badly injured. After first aid had pulled you out of the wreck, you were brought to the nearest hospital. We did everything we could, alright?” He looked over to Will “Your entire right side was damaged, and we tried all we could, but we couldn’t save your eye.” Wills hand reached up to feel the gauze on his face.

“Oh.” He looked confused. “I didn’t notice.”

“That might be better, right?” Annie inquired.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Dr. Daniels answered. “It at least means he is used to it already, and that is a good thing. We’ll have to talk about a glass eye sooner or later, alright?”

“A glass eye?”

“Right now, you are wearing a stock eye under the bandages, and we have been taking care of your eye for quite a long time now, but if you want something that looks real, you should get a glass eye. We have looked into a visual prosthesis, a bionic eye, but I fear that currently, science has not come far enough to restore your eyesight in that eye yet.”

“I don’t mind. I don’t miss it. Should I?”

“It might be better if you don’t.”

“What else happened?”

“After stabilizing you, we returned you home and you admitted here at the Oakland Medical Centre. I actually used to work at the hospital you were at first, but after taking care of your transmission, I applied for a job here.” He laughed nervously, then sighed.

Annie stood and walked over to sit at the foot of Cliff's bed. “You were sleeping for ten years. In half a year you’ll be eighteen already.”

“We missed a lot.” Cliff murmured. He looked at his mother. She had the same black hair he and Will had, and chocolate eyes. She was tall, and had a kind face. She seemed like someone he would like to call his mom.

He shifted his gaze to his father. He was even taller than his mother from what he had seen and had bright blue eyes and brown hair. He had a strong jaw and broad shoulders.

“What do I look like?” Cliff wondered out loud.

“Well, they have to stand up sooner or later, right?” Sam joked with a look at Henrick.

“Alright, let’s get them to the bathroom. There is a big mirror there.”

While Annie helped Clifford sit up, Sam took care of Willard, even though he barely accepted his help. Dr. Daniels made sure that they didn’t pull on their IV’s and led them to the bathroom.

It turned out that they were as tall as Annie, with the blue eyes of their father.

“Shouldn’t our hair be longer?” Will asked. It was longer than most boys would wear it, but not really all that long.

“We cut it several times over the years. We had to attach electrodes several times.”

Will tilted his head.

“Isn’t that a band?”

“What?”

“I just thought I- ….nevermind, it’s gone now…” he shook his head.

‘I could’ve sworn I heard that before…’

“Could I cut it again?” Cliff asked.

“Sure, but first we should talk about other things, alright?” Dr. Daniels gestured at them to come back to their beds. “Please sit down.”

Once the family was sitting, he pulled out his clipboard. “We have a lot to do. Will needs to visit an ocularist to design and customise his eye, and both of you will have to visit a neurologist and psychologist as well as rehabilitation.”

“Does that mean I get to make my glass eye have any color I want?” Wills right eye seemed to sparkle at the thought.

“Well, theoretically yes, but I would suggest keeping a natural look if you want to avoid questions.”

“And if I don’t want to avoid them?” he tilted his head.

“I guess it’s alright then? I don’t know as much as an ocularist might, my main fields are surgery, comas and psychology.” He went over to get the little boxes from the table and gestured to the box each had sitting on their nightstand

“Here we have the cough syrup you just took. Your voice might be scratchy for a few day and it may hurt to talk, so this will soothe your throat and help with healing.” He added two boxes to both nightstands. “Then we have something in case of indigestion and nausea, alright? Since you’ve been fed per tube for the last ten years it might react badly to solid food. So if you feel unable to keep your food in your body, either way, I would like you to take one of these accordingly, alright?”

Cliff laughed softly at the disgusted face Will made. He looked positively scandalized.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but it had to be said.” He added another two boxes and sat back down, now with empty hands.

“Those help with sleeping. It’s ironic, I know, but your body needs to regain a regular sleep schedule. This one” he pointed to the box marked blue “is supposed to keep you awake, the other one helps you sleep.”

“Why do they need both?” asked Annie.

“They might not. Some coma patients keep waking up at night or not even going to sleep at all, others fall asleep randomly during the day and a few even sleep entirely normally, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

He faced Will. “You will get some eye drops and some ointment from the ocularists. The stock eye is usually not a long-term solution, but we couldn’t fit a glass eye without the patient being awake, so we had to take care of your eye for you, alright? The Ocularists will be able to tell you more in a bit. We should get your eye fitted as soon as possible. We already measured it out and had the base made ahead of time, so now you just go in, try it out, tell them if it’s uncomfortable in any way and tell them how you want it to look”, alright?

“Wait, right now?” Sam asked.

“The sooner the better, Mr. Taylor. Usually, a stock eye is only used for about six weeks, so we might have to operate to guarantee implant movement.”

“If not, then it won’t move?” Will asked.

“Exactly. So really, it would be up to you.”

“….” Will looked thoughtful for a second.

“But for now,” Dr. Daniels stood up and went to the door to retrieve something from outside. When he came back, he had two folded in wheelchairs with him. “We should get going.”

 

++++++1+ +4+8+7++++++

 

The first ocularist visits went pretty well, considering Wills insistence to make his eye colour not blue like his real eye, but instead yellow. During the first fitting, they just looked to see if the eye fit, which it did. The measurements taken during their coma were accurate enough to make the implant fit perfectly. Once the topic of painting the eye came up, Will looked through the examples of colourings. There he spotted an almost golden yellow eye colour, which he kept insisting on. In the end, they had to oblige to stop his tantrums and angry outbursts. Dr. Daniels assured the Taylors that this behaviour was relatively normal in coma patients who had recently woken up. Cliff began exhibiting an aggressive behaviour as well, often just staring into the air with a frown on his face.

The biggest aid during these first weeks were Dr. O’Cain and Dr. Bronson, the twins’ psychologists, who made them reconsider their thoughts and actions and guided them towards betterment. Wills psychologist, Dr. O’Cain assured their parents that the boys’ outbursts were not meant to harm anyone and that they were not even able to remember what they had said afterwards. Dr. Bronson advised them against arguing with them, as coma patients were prone to ‘spouting nonsense’ and that ‘they can’t take responsibility for their mood-swings’.

It was relieving to find out their motor skills didn’t need much time to be back to normal, even though Cliff started sleepwalking and Will had visible problems with blinking once his eye was in place. It turned out it was not a problem with the eye, but just a problem with not being aware of his blind eye.

A few days after waking up, Sam and Annie returned with a laptop and showed them pictures of their old room, as well as their attic, to discuss living arrangements with them.

 

++++++22+6+5+5++++++

 

The room looked very small. There was a window directly opposite the door, and the room seemed to be split in the middle. There was a wardrobe and bookshelf on each side, as well as two bunk beds with tables underneath.

‘Probably to save space’ thought Clifford.

“This was Wills ‘side’,” Sam said with a fond side and showed a few pictures of the right side, in which they could see that Wills bedspread had stars on them, that his bookshelf was filled to the brim with books, and that somewhere even laying on his table. “He- I mean, you wanted to be an astronaut.” Annie laughed softly.

“Remember when Cliff said he wanted to become a rock star?” Sam asked her. With a laugh in his voice.

“I do!” She looked over to him. “You came into the kitchen with your hair all ruffled up with your dads shaving cream and with my lipstick around your eyes and said: ‘Mom, Dad, I have to move out! I’m going to be a rock star!’” she laughed with a soft look on her face, and Clifford had to smile as well.

“Hahaha! That is hilarious!” Will was hunched over and seemed unable to stop laughing, which in turn made Sam and Cliff let out a few chuckles as well.

“But, Will, you were no better! You built a rocket out of a cardboard box and the waste bin, and put it on your little kiddie wheel cart. Then you rode it down a hill and into a pond, Sam had to jump in to get you out! In December!”

They shared another laugh.

It felt strange to Clifford, and he could tell Will felt weird as well. These were their parents, and yet, he had to remind himself of that every time they were talking.

“Oh right, and this is Cliffs.” Annie showed the other boys side of the room. His bookshelf was also full, but more with little knickknacks than with books. There was a coffer lying on his table.

“It’s your violin. You had just started playing before…the accident.” The way she said it was full of pain and sadness.

“I can’t promise much, but I can try to pick it up again?” he suggested softly.

“Oh no, you don’t need to feel pressured, Cliff. Do what makes you happy, even if it takes a while to find hobbies you connect with.” Annie rushed to explain.

“By the way, I wanted to ask why you shorten my name?”

“Well, you… had both agreed one day to not listen to us unless we call both of you by the shortened version of your names. Does it bother you?”

“Not much, but I like my full name.”

“We can certainly try using it more often then, Clifford.” Sam grinned

“Now, the reason we showed you this, was because we don’t believe you’ll want to share a room any longer. We have an attic that we could renovate for you, if you’re interested?” Sam explained while showing a few pictures of said attic. Currently, it was dusty and empty except for a few boxes.

“I love it.” Will whispered with a big grin.

“Okay then.” His mother chuckled “Is that okay for you, Clifford?”

He nodded and smiled.

“That’s great! Thank god, we were worried you wouldn’t be able to agree.” Sam sighed and pretended to wipe away sweat from his brow. Will chuckled.

“First of all, we will move all your old stuff into the basement and the garage. We wanted to go through the things with you to sort out what you want to keep and what we can give away. Your clothes are never going to fit you now, and neither are your beds. So we’ll go furniture shopping once the rooms are emptied out.” Annie explained.

Sam cut in. “Since you need to be able to pick out your new furniture, we will only be buying a bed for you first, so we can go together the day after your release. For the bed trip, we’ll get you each a cell phone, so we can send you pictures and then decide like that, if that is okay?”

“Sounds good to me. Dad.” Will tacked on awkwardly. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not offended.” Sm reassured him “I get that you don’t remember us and that it will take some time to get used to us again.”

He still felt as though he should say it. Remind himself that he had parents. That these were his parents. He felt as though he shouldn’t have parents. The feeling coiled in his guts and made him feel awful whenever he thought about it too long.

“Alright. Thanks.”

“But before we buy your beds, we will renovate the rooms. The attic takes priority though, sorry Clifford.” Sam cast an apologetic look at his son.

“I don’t mind. I like the room.” The walls had a pleasant, orange-brown colour and the wooden floor was mostly covered by a colourful carpet. “I would just prefer a different carpet, please?” he smiled bashfully.

“No problem, we can do that.” Annie nodded. “And you Will? Carpet, tapestries, what would you think you’d like?”

He took a minute to think, looking at the pictures of the attic.

“Can I just keep the walls plain white? I would like to try painting them myself some time.” Will had taken up drawing in between the visits from the doctors and their parents, and the other day they had brought along a wad of paper and some pencils for them, though Will used them way more than Clifford did. Dr. O’Cain had tried to utilise them as a way to refer to Will’s state of mind and what his subconscious seemed to be repressing. The combination of symbols and creatures he tended to draw didn’t really make sense, but there were some recurring themes, such as the Christmas trees. Dr. O’Cain had consulted their parents on those and had come to the conclusion that he was trying to recall the accident itself, which had been, after all, a Christmas trip.

Something he just realized earlier was that he kept doodling the stars from his old bedsheets. He didn’t really feel like he wanted to be an astronaut, but maybe there still was some fascination with space travel somewhere inside? The weird creatures he drew might as well be some alien species he made up as a kid. He couldn’t really tell.

However, he did know that he liked drawing a lot, and just thinking about having a whole room as a canvas made him more excited than ever to be released from the hospital.

“Sure, we can do that. What about the floor then?” Sam inquired. Right now there was just wooden paneling in the attic.

“Maybe a carpet? I don’t know yet? I don’t really feel the carpet; you know?”

“We understand, dear, you don’t have to choose right now.” Annie said. “How about, when we go buy Clifford’s carpet, we send you pictures of the other carpets they have?”

“Thank you, that sounds great.” He looked at the pictures once more, then tilted his head. “What about lamps?”

“Oh, I forgot about that!” Annie admitted. “Clifford, I don’t think you would want to keep the old lamp?”

The lamp in their old bedroom was a looked colourful ball, apparently made of paper. There were also their desks lamps, but the twins quickly agreed to keep those. The main light seemed a bit childish to Clifford, but he sheepishly admitted that he had no idea what kind of lamp he would like in his new room.

Sam nodded. “That’s okay, we’ll just do the same with the lamps as with the beds and carpets. It’s no problem.”

When the boys thanked them for their willingness to help, they waved it off.

“It’s okay! We’re your parents and we’re here to help.” Annie smiled at them.

“Exactly! It’s great to have all that cleared up.” Sam agreed “We will have to renovate a lot, so tomorrow we bring your phones, and after that, we’ll most likely be working a lot, so only one of us will be able to come and visit you.”

“That’s okay. Please take some time to relax too.” Clifford tried to dissuade them from stressing themselves.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” Annie chuckled. “We are a lot less stressed now that the last ten years.”

 

++++++9+21+3+18++++++

 

In the end, they spent another two months at the hospital, a lot more than usual, since their neurologists and psychologists were having a debate with Dr. Daniels and the Taylors on whether or not they should be returned to society in the state they were in. Their intelligence turned out to be on par with at least a fourteen-year-old, and after some testing and a few lessons it rocketed up to be nearly the same as a regular seventeen-year-old.

This caused long discussions ranging from phases of unconscious consciousness and overheard conversations to multiple personality disorder and even some talk of spiritual energy and supernatural beings. However, when the topic of the twins staying for even longer to observe their progress was brought up, Dr. Daniels stood up for the Taylors and convinced the other professionals to ‘just let the poor boys go home already, alright?’.

Annie and Sam had taken photos like they had promised, and Clifford had settled for a beige carpet with a few read and orange leaves on it and practically fell in love with a free-range design bed and had the biggest outburst of excitement since waking up. His ceiling lamps design went along well with his carpet, with the faint leaf pattern it had, and he also picked out a bedside lamp that went well with his bed, with a more natural look to it.

In the end, Will couldn’t really see any of the carpets they send pictures of to be in his room. However, he did express an interest in the few fur carpets they showed him, but he ended up saying that he’d rather go shopping for those in person. He picked out a bed with drawers underneath, the wood painted black. His ceiling lamp was in a geometric style, white on the outside and a reflective golden colour on the inside. As a bedside lamp he picked a yellow lava lamp.

Now, their release date was drawing nearer and both boys were excited to leave the hospital. They were especially restless the night before their release.

 

++++++14+14+9+9++++++

 

The moon was shining into the hospital room. Cliffords eyes were fixated on it and he could swear it had hypnotized him.

“Psst. Cliffy, are you awake?”

“Stop calling me that, it sounds childish.” He sighed and turned to face his twin. “What is it?”

“Aren’t you curious?”

“About what?”

“Who you are of course. Or rather, who you were. Who we were.”

“…I guess I am. What kind of children were we, what do you think?”

“How should I know? We spent a longer time of our lives sleeping than living.” There was a short minute of silence. “Will we even be able to fit in again? What if we are different than …. Mom and Dad…expect? I can’t even call them that without feeling like I’m lying to them.”

“Why would you think that?”

“I don’t feel like they are my parents.”

“…. Me neither.”

“Huh?” Will sat up.

“I mean… I don’t remember them. That’s obvious. But… I think that, even though we can’t really recall them being out parents back when we were kids, we can still …see that they are our parents now.”

“What about school? They said summer vacation starts in about a week.”

The plan was for the teens to use the summer vacation to catch up on anything they might need for their last school year, so they could at least try to finish along with people their physical age. The local high school had agreed to volunteer some of their new teachers to help them along the way with tutoring.

“Do you think we’ll do well?” Clifford eyed the crossword on his nightstand. He had started doing these more and more recently, after discovering he not only already had an interestingly expansive vocabulary, considering his supposed mental age, but he also loved discovering new and outlandish words. He had even tried his hand at writing for a bit, starting with writing a dream diary.

“Bro, we’re like, way too smart.”

“You’ve been watching too much TV, Will.”

“But I’m right.” He grinned, and Clifford could see the moonlight reflect off his glass eye, giving him an eerie look. “We are too smart. That’s why they wouldn’t let us leave earlier.”

“….go to sleep, Willard.” Clifford grumbled and reached for the sleeping pills on his nightstand. There weren’t many left, but since both of them had exhibited lingering signs of insomnia, they would be given more tomorrow.

“Yeah, yeah.” Will took his own pill and went to sleep as well.

‘Tomorrow we go home.’


	3. Makeovers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These boys need new stuff. Badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! :D  
> I'm so happy that people are liking this story, and it motivates me so much ♥  
> I really hope you guys like the new chapter. I might focus on one character too much sometimes, I'm trying to work on that, so tell me if one of them goes MIA for too long?  
> Holly ~♥
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls or Over the Garden Wall.

"Did you get the prescriptions from Henrick?"

"Yes, dear, they’re in their bags already. We have everything."

The finally complete Taylor family stood at the doorway of the hospital room where Clifford and Will had spent the last ten years of their lives. Their parents were each carrying a small suitcase in which they had transported clothes for the boys to and from the hospital. Going shopping for the first set of clothes had been a bit of a disaster, and the result was that the adults had just picked up two oversized shirts for each boy and some pyjama-esque pants. That was before the cell phones. Now they wore things that fit them a little better, but they could still easily use the shirts as PJ’s. The jeans were pretty simple, regular dark ones, but since they had to guess their shoe size, they would have to make their first clothes shopping trip in flip-flops.

"Are you alright? Mom?" Will asked her, seeing her slightly teary eyes.

"Oh, I'll be fine, Will. And you don't have to call us mom and dad if it makes you uncomfortable, we understand." She chuckled and a sad smile spread across her face. Of course, this wasn't the first time she or Sam had told them this, but Will still felt like had to say it, if only to remind himself that he had parents. No, that these were his parents. He doesn't need to remind himself that he has parents. That is the head injury talking. Everyone has parents.

"Anyways, we have some things to do, so let's get going." Sam reminded them. He held open the door and everyone left the room behind them to walk to the car.

The drive home was quick, but the only reason they stopped by was to leave their bags there and for their mom to get some cash for the shopping trip. She quickly went into the house, one of the many -and basically same- residences in this part of town. Two stories, a garden and a large driveway with room for two cars with a sort of canopy. Their house was a soft yellow colour and instead of a white fence like many of the other houses, there was a hedge around the perimeters of the Taylors home.

On their way to the mall, their mother explained the plans for the day.

“First, we’ll go shopping for clothing, then we’ll go to IKEA and get you two new furniture, especially wardrobes. There is no way your old ones will fit all the new clothes… Since we won’t be able to get them home ourselves, we’ll have to split up. Sam will go with the people getting the furniture home and help them, while we will go ahead and get some of the school materials you will need. Does that sound good? We can take a break for food at the IKEA restaurant if you’re okay with it?”

“I have no idea what IKEA is, but sure.” Will smirked.

“Oh, sorry, dear! IKEA is a furniture store. They also have a restaurant and some decoration and storage elements. Also, their furniture is said to be the easiest to assemble. I’ll have to agree, even I can set up a shelf from there on my own, and assembling furniture is not exactly my strong suit.”

“Sounds good.” Said Clifford.

 

…I…………………I…..

 

The twins had wondered why their parents had picked them up at nine in the morning, but after shopping for shoes for an hour, they had a feeling they knew why.

“That took forever!” Will whined. “Why did we have to try so many shoes? We spent an hour in there!”

Having to measure their size was the easiest part of the entire thing. The fact that there were different shoes for so many different things was the irritating part, since they needed at least three pairs of shoes, which got upgraded to four once Sam remembered sports shoes.

Therefore, Sam took Will on a shoe-seeking adventure, while Annie went with Clifford.

Now, coming out of the store, each had a pair of dress shoes, sneakers, gym shoes, sandals and the tacked on pairs of garden shoes and house slippers.

Clifford rolled his eyes. “You shouldn’t be the one complaining. You were the one who insisted on trying on heels.”

Sam laughed. “And that clerks face when you asked her why they weren’t for men! I nearly died trying not to laugh!”

“It was an honest question.”

Sam, still chuckling, took the giant bags from them with a little struggle.

“Oof, okay. I’m getting these to the car, go ahead, I’ll catch up later.”

With that, they split ways and Annie led the boys to the nearest clothing store. This time, figuring out their size took longer than before, since they had to try on sizes until something fit. After an arduous ordeal of taking off, putting on, taking off, putting on clothes, even Clifford was getting a little frustrated. They didn’t even find anything except some dark brown jeans for him in the first store, and Will only found something he liked in the second one, where their dad came back while he was changing.

“Is this the right size?” Will asked and stepped out of the changing room. He was wearing a black shirt with a white, scratchy looking font on it saying ‘TURN THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN’, which was, of course, written upside down.

“That looks good on you, Will.” Clifford said. He was holding an eggshell-beige, knitted turtleneck he wanted to try on.

“I agree. You should get it.” Sam added from where he was sitting with Annie.

“Oh, hi. You’re back.”

“Much to your delight, as I can hear.” Sam grinned at him.

“Haha. You know what I mean.” Will looked at the mirror once more, then nodded. “Okay. This is mine now.” He vanished behind the curtain once more.

“I’m trying this one on.” Clifford held up his sweater and went into the cabin next to Will.

In the end, they left the second store with Wills t-shirt and grey ripped pants, Cliffs turtleneck and a lot of socks and underwear for both.

The third store was selling mostly clothing for different sports and hiking jackets, so they each bought swimming trunks and some windbreaker jackets.

“I just realized,” Clifford said suddenly in between stores. “How are we paying for all this?”

Annie smiled a sad smile. By now he knew to associate this particular expression with their accident and resulting coma. “Well, first of all, the company the truck driver worked for had to pay the parents of the hurt children compensation accordingly. Also, we have been putting money on bank accounts for both of you after a year, for exactly this. We wanted to have a proper amount to fall back on for the day you would wake up.” She turned and tried to discreetly wipe her eyes. “Oh damn, I still get all choked up about this!”

“Sorry, mom.” Clifford apologized.

“Shut up, it’s not your fault!” she made a dismissive hand gesture.

“Alright.” Suddenly, Cliff stopped and turned. “Will?”

Will was standing in front of a store selling mostly dark or leather clothing decorated with a good amount of metal. He looked like he might as well have stars in his eye.

“I’m going in here, okay?” he said over his shoulder and then pretty much left them standing there.

“Okay. Seems we still get to experience our kids’ puberty.” Sam chuckled and went after his son.

Will was practically bouncing all over the place, picking out a vest, faux-leather clothes, some shirt and one choker necklace before disappearing into the changing rooms at record speed.

Clifford looked around a bit too, but the style didn’t really appeal to him.

When Will burst out from his booth again, he was wearing a black leather vest over a ripped up white t-shirt, tight black pants and a black choker imitating a bow tie.

“Um.” Clifford stared.

“….I don’t really see the shirt, Will. But the vest suits you.” Annie offered diplomatically

“I didn’t even know they made bowtie-chockers. Those must have saved some people a lot of time.” Sam mused before evading a slap on the arm from his wife.

Will inspected his reflection. Then he frowned “The shirt really is a little ill-fitting, I think I’ll leave it. But can I have the other stuff?” He actually managed to put on one of the most convincing puppy eyes they had ever seen from him.

“Sure, they suit you!” Sam clapped a hand on his shoulder.

While walking over to the cash register to pay, Clifford actually found a coat he wanted to try on. The black material went halfway down his calves and when he walked, it billowed behind him, which quite honestly made him feel awesome. Sadly, he knew he would have to wait for colder temperatures to wear it.

After paying, their next stop was at a hairdresser, where Clifford wanted his hair cut shorter. Since waking up, the topic hadn’t come up again and he had actually forgotten to mention it before. Now, both twins had bangs hanging into their eyes a bit and Clifford wanted that off.

So, they spent the next hour waiting in the busy shop to get a turn. During that time, Will had also discovered a hairstyle he wanted and asked his parents if it could be a surprise. Neither minded, however, they did give him a price limit. After asking one of the employees about the price, he confirmed that it was not something atrociously expensive.

“It would take about one and a half hours though.” He admitted.

Sam whistled. “That’s long. You’re gonna dye your hair?”

“How did you know?” Will looked mildly scandalized.

“You just told me.” Sam laughed at his sons’ pouting face. “Also, few haircuts take this long without dying it.”

“I could stay here with you, so Clifford can go with your dad to pick out some more clothes, okay?” Annie suggested.

“Fine.” Will huffed.

After Cliff got his hair cut into a shorter model -something that would still stay up on its own without being too short- he went along with his dad and left Annie and his brother behind at the hairdresser.

It turned out that the shops his father would visit were pretty much what he was looking for himself. After their time was up, he returned to the hairdresser with two new regular jeans and three long button-down shirts in white, baby blue, and even a soft pink one.

Meanwhile, Will had dyed one half of his hair and cut the other half.

“Alright.” Sam looked him over while Anne paid for the boys' haircuts. He had dyed the right half of his hair blonde and let it fall over his glass eye while the black hair on the other side had been shaved to a velvety black fuzz. The look was strangely well accentuated by his ginormous grin. “This is fine. I think I may even be able to get used to that.”

“My boy.” Sighed Annie.

“Huh?” Cliff tilted his head at her.

“Why that?” Will asked at nearly the same time.

“When I was your age, I was what you might call a punk.” She elaborated. “I’m certain I still have my old accessories somewhere. They’re mostly gender-ambiguous, so you might like to take a look later?”

Will shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

“By the way, Clifford and I have found something that he likes as well. But we do need some more things I believe.”

“Did you get T-shirts? It is summer, after all. They’ll need some tops as well. And short pants.”

“How about four shorts, seven shirts and five tops?” Sam suggested.

“That might be a bit too much. We just need some things for the first week, we can go shopping again after that. I agree with the shorts though. I think 5 shirts and 3 tops should be enough.”

“Uhh, yeah, I would like to get home today please.” Will joked.

“Well, then let’s get going!” Annie grinned and ushered the boys out of the store.

 

…I………………………

 

It was nearly 3 PM when they left the mall. During their hunt for summer clothing, there had been a pit stop to get a training outfit for gym class and another for a snack around midday. They also had used their last stop as a chance to change into some of their more fitting clothes, but they would still make it in time to choose their wardrobes. Their actual, furniture wardrobes.

The car was loaded with clothing when they parked in the parking lot in front of the big blue building with the yellow writing establishing it as their destination.

“Need. Food. Now!” whined Will, pressing his cheek against the window.

“Aaaand we’re here!” Sam pulled the key from the ignition and Will basically flew out of the car.

Clifford had a feeling they took forever to get to the actual restaurant, even though it couldn’t have been more than ten minutes. Both boys were acting like kids in a toy store and ran from one interesting thing to the next.

“Um, Dad?” Will asked a little awkwardly.

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to ask, do you think being ‘supposedly the mental age of a seven-year-old’ qualify us for getting in there?” He pointed at the entrance to the Småland. Sadly, he ruined his sincere expression with a small smirk, and Sam let out a good and long laugh, soon joined by the rest of the family.

“I – hah- I don’t think so, Will. Heheheh.”

They had calmed down by the time they got to the stairs and on the way to the restaurant, they went through a short corridor lined with different mirror designs. The twins took a short look to take themselves in after their makeover.

Clifford had chosen to wear a pair of black shorts and a short-sleeved white button-up shirt with a black ink design seemingly reaching upwards from the bottom hem like vines. His new hairstyle was a bit ruffled, but with purpose. His feet were in his brand new brown sandals.

Willard had donned the clothes he had gotten from ‘The Edgy Store’ as Sam had taken to calling it, and put on a soft yellow shirt underneath the vest, with sleeves reaching just past his elbow. Also, the colours went along well with his hair.

“We look very different.” Clifford stated.

“Yeah, I know, right? You sure you’re my twin?” His brother smirked and danced out of his range when the other tried to swat at him. “No need to be so aggressive!”

They followed their parents to the line of people getting their food, and in little to no time, they had a table at a window overlooking the parking lot. Which may not be the most interesting of views, but it was still nice.

“So, boys.” Sam started. “Content with everything so far? I know shopping sucks, but we tried out best to get it over and done with as fast as possible.”

“It’s alright.” Cliff answered since Will had his mouth stuffed full of fries. He understood. Hospital food seemed very unappealing suddenly. “I’d rather have something else to wear than the other ….things.”

Sam smiled apologetically. “Sorry. We just didn’t know your sizes, and well, at least now you have some PJ’s, or at least comfy clothes to relax in.”

“You’re doing your best.”

Will swallowed and added his own remark “Yeah, thanks. It’s not easy for you either, right?”

“It was difficult, but that’s okay.” Annie answered. “We cannot hold onto the past forever, and it’s especially unfair to you. You’re still our children, and no matter how different you seem to be, there are still parts of you that remind us of that. And we love you both. Please never forget this.”

Whenever they were told this by their parents, they both felt odd. Clifford felt a bit guilty for not having similar feelings, and he knew that Will felt something similar. But he could still tell the other was glad to have their parents support.

 “I-… we love you too. I- I think… sorry.” He stammered, then he ducked his head and stabbed his food with his fork. He had thought he was ready to say it.

“Don’t worry about it. But thank you for trying. It means a lot to us.” Sam consoled him. Annie's eyes were brimming with tears, but she wore an honest and touched smile.

 

…IIIIIIIIIII….…….I……

 

After finishing with their meals, the family felt ready to tackle the furniture store.

“Okay! Our priority is getting two wardrobes, anything else comes second. Desks would be great, and I don’t know how you feel about nightstands. Perhaps new bookshelves, we’ll have to see.”

Therefore, they made their way towards the wardrobes. Upon arrival, they were faced with the choice between a complete premade wardrobe or one self-designed from different combinable pieces.

“To be honest,” Clifford started, “after running around all day, I really just want to sit down. You can design your own wardrobe over there, right?” He pointed at a table with about six computers. The only other people at the computers were a young couple and an old lady who was coached through the PAX-planning program by a mildly irritated staff member.

“I’m with my bro.” Will pulled out one of the chairs and sat down. “How do you do this?”

The adults looked over the boys’ shoulder as they worked on their wardrobes. Clifford had decided to keep up the natural look his bed had set for his room and used a light wood colour for his two-part wardrobe, with doors in a darker wood. He also added one mirror door after seeing where Will had found the option. His brother had split his wardrobe into three parts, a wider and higher body in the middle of two shorter and thinner elements. The right-hand part was the one with the mirror door and the rest of the entire wardrobe was coloured black.

The inside was a bit trickier. After adding their doors, the twins had to add any elements in a way that didn’t obstruct the door hinges. There was a back and forth, as well as a scare when Will accidentally deleted the entire thing, but managed to get it back when he found the undo button. But after about twenty minutes, Will had the two side parts of his wardrobe split up evenly with shelves while he kept the middle one for a clothes rail, as well as two drawers for socks and underwear and two pull out bags for laundry. The latter one was Clifford’s idea.

After putting a shelf under his clothes rail, the room below looked too empty and he had already put his drawers in the other element of his wardrobe, so he looked through his options and filled the empty space to the left with the laundry baskets.

“Why two?” Will raised an eyebrow.

“So when one is gone for when the laundry is being washed, I don’t throw the clothes somewhere else.”

Annie made an impressed face and nodded. She shared a look with her husband and made a show of pointing at Clifford and stage whispering ‘smart cookie’. Her shenanigans got a laugh from Will and an amused smile from the other two men.

They finished up their planning session and wrote down all of the wardrobe pieces they had to pick up, then they moved on. On their way through the rest of the store, they passed the ‘desk exhibit’ and found another one of the ‘plan your own furniture’-stations. While Will immediately steered towards it, Clifford found himself near one of the desks in the exhibit.

The desk had the exact style that would fit well into his room, some drawers at the sides and a small shelf with several compartments, one big enough for a monitor and two more small drawers.

“I love it.” He whispered.

Sam, who had been standing nearby, laughed. “Hemnes? Looks like it would fit in well. I approve.” He clapped a hand on Clifford’s shoulder. His son smiled up at him. “Also, I just realized you need chairs.”

After looking around for a bit, Clifford settled on a black swivel chair. They were just writing down the chair's location when they were joined by Annie and Will, who were already done with Will’s customized desk. Seemed like a desk took a lot less time to conceive than a wardrobe. It would probably also take less time to build. They scribbled down those parts as well, then picked out a chair for Will as well. He also chose a black swivel chair in a more modern style with armrests and a mesh backrest.

They made the rest of their trip towards the cash registers without any lengthier stops. There were several short ones though, for little things like a few potted plants for Clifford and other miscellaneous decorations. He was especially drawn to a ready to hang black and white photography of a forest. Meanwhile, Will had picked out a box that was made to look like a book, and was about to walk ahead, but was stopped when he stumbled across the art event exhibit the store had set up.

“Some of these look pretty scary.” Annie said when they all caught up with him. She pointed at one of the glass figurines. “I mean, what is this supposed to be?”

Clifford took a look at the sign next to it. “Apparently it‘s named Hira, also meaning 'good dreams'. It’s supposedly an abstract visualization of life.”

“Turquoise signifies protection against the evil eye.” Will read out another sign. He picked up one of the packages containing the figurine and grinned. “This is a glass eye.”

Sam took a look as well. “It looks creepy as hell, boy.”

“… This is mine now.” Will put it with the rest of the things in their shopping cart.

When they finally arrived at the cash registers, Annie gave each of the boys some money and sent them to go to the food shop at the exit and buy themselves some snacks while their parents were busy paying for their stuff.

“Hey, Cliffy, look at these!” Will held up some biscuits with raspberry filling. “These look good.”

“I think I’d rather get some chocola-” Clifford trailed off with a flabbergasted look, then picked up a bottle from a shelf. “Ice tea. With birch flavour. What in the world?”

Will came up to him and picked another bottle. “They have pine flavour too.”

“Who comes up with this?!”

“I’m gonna get this.”

“Seriously??” Cliff turned his bewildered stare at his brother.

“Hell yeah, it’s weird and I wanna try it!” he grinned and pushed a chocolate bar into his twin’s hand. “Oh, and here is your chocolate.”

“Thanks.” Clifford put the ice tea back and followed his brother to pay for their snacks.

After their parents had paid for their things, they went to rent a van to get all of it home. Sam volunteered to drive the furniture home, so they all packed up the van before splitting up.

“Great!” Annie exclaimed after leaving. “Everything important is done, we made it all in one day. Are you holding up okay?” She asked the twins in the back seat.

“Yeah, just tired.” Will sighed and opened up the cookies he got.

“I feel like a stone.” Clifford moaned. “Give me a cookie please?”

The boy handed the bag to his brother and opened up the ice tea.

“I still can’t believe you bought that.” Clifford eyed the bottle suspiciously as his twin took a sip.

Will made a thoughtful face, then tried a bit more. Then he beamed.

“Pine trees are delicious!”

 He glanced at Clifford. “You wanna try?” he held out the bottle.

“No thank you.” He denied his twin’s offer and instead took a bite of the cookie he had finally managed to pry from the roll-shaped bag.

 

…I………I………..I……

 

When the twins actually set foot into their house for the first time, it was already seven PM. Sam had already arrived with the furniture and was in the process of hauling everything inside and to their respective rooms. Clifford went to help him, while Will stayed with their mom and carried in the bags from their first shopping trip inside. The ground floor of the house held the living room and kitchen, as well as a bathroom and an office. Their bedrooms were on the first floor, and now Wills was up in the attic, so getting all the furniture up the staircase was quite a piece of work.

“We could try to assemble the wardrobes today, but I don’t really think we would be able to. How about we wait until tomorrow, okay boys?” Sam told them once everything was out of the cars and in the house.

Currently, the family was sitting at the kitchen table having a few sandwiches. The long day had taken its toll on all of them, and quite honestly, the boys felt as though they could fall asleep right there at the table.

“I don’t think I can handle much longer, dad.” Clifford mumbled into his food.

Will opted to swallow the rest of his sandwich and promptly letting his body slump over the table. “I wanna sleeeeeep!” he whined.

The adults chuckled at the sight.

“Alright, then off to bed!” Annie grinned. “And don’t forget to brush your teeth.”

There were two bathrooms in the house, one on the ground floor and one on the second floor, but none in the attic. There was a sink in the laundry room, so Will could use that for water, but if he wanted to shower or use the toilet, he would have to go downstairs.

“It’s strange.” Clifford started when they got their toothbrushes from their ‘hospital’ bathroom bags which their mother had put into the first-floor bathroom. “This is the first time we won’t sleep in the same room.”

“Well, my room is directly above yours. At least the half with my bed in it.”

Wills room had appeared to be the bigger one, but due to the roof cutting into the room, anything tall had to fit in one half of the room. There was a window in a sort of alcove, where he wanted to put his desk and the wardrobe would go up at the wall right to the door. The bed had already taken over a corner on the left side of the room.

“Great. Just drop something heavy a couple of times to wake me up if you need something.” Clifford deadpanned and started brushing his teeth.

“Hahaha.” Will pushed his brother before doing the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually went to IKEA's webpage to pick out all of this stuff ^_^'  
> Also, I don't actually know how mall hairdressers work, I've never been to one.


	4. So Long as Eye can See

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again! :3  
> These next few weeks are going to get rough for me, so I may not be able to post a new chapter every week as I have up until now.  
> Exams suck D:  
> On another note, I dedicate the next few chapters to my family and my parent's amazing humour, which I borrowed for Sam and Annie to use.  
> See you all hopefully next week :D  
> Holly ~♥
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls or Over the Garden Wall

When Will woke up in the morning, he immediately threw back his dark red bed sheets and rolled over to fish around his bag for his little notebook. The twins had both gotten them from Dr. Daniels to write down thoughts for their sessions with their psychologists. He quickly wrote down the last wisps of the strange dream he had before looking over his last entry.

_There has to be something wrong with me. My parents clearly show that they love me and Clifford, but I don’t feel the same. I am thankful for their help, but that is not love. I am impressed by the strength they must have to wait an entire decade for their children to wake up, but that is not love. I may even look to them for guidance, like any child would look to their parents, but that is not love._

_Is it? None of these things seem to be the love they keep telling us they feel. Is love an amalgamation of different aspects of your feelings?_

_There are these outlandish words again. I don’t know if I get them from Clifford and his crosswords, from TV or… somewhere else? ~~Wasn’t there something else befo~~_

_I can’t love. I’m sure of it now, there has to be something wrong with me._

_Tried to look up this lack of feeling._

_Others are asking the same, but I can’t find the answers I’m looking for._

_Maybe I should just give it time._

Will had sketched his parents and Clifford in this entry, and their faces seemed to stare into his soul with betrayed expressions.

_‘Why would you say these things?’_

_‘What have we done wrong?’_

_‘Do you really not care for us?’_

He snapped the book shut and pulled up his legs to his chest, curling in on himself and hiding his face from the outside world.

‘I don’t know. I clearly don’t. Why is this so hard?’

Tears burned in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.

‘Wait. It will come. This is the head injury blocking your emotions.’

After a few minutes, he managed to calm down enough to uncurl himself and stand up. He didn’t bother putting on any other clothes and went over into the laundry room in his extra-large shirt and boxers. Standing over the sink, he splashed some water on his face and breathed in and out slow a few times.

In.

And Out.

In.

And Out.

Then he straightened up and took a sip of water. He spat it right back out.

Okay. No. That was disgusting. He’d have to ask for an alternative to this.

He shook off the bad taste, then marched downstairs with his head held high.

He could at least pretend. They didn’t need to be bothered with his little… episodes.

 

\----9--------------8-1-22-5-------------

 

Breakfast was another good food experience for the twins.

“I’m never eating hospital food ever again.” Clifford decided after eating his first toast loaded with scrambled eggs and bacon.

Will grumbled what he hoped sounded like agreement into his toast.

“Glad you like it.” Sam, who had cooked the meal smiled at the praise. “Although, I suppose anything tastes good in comparison to hospital food.” He chuckled.

“So,” Annie started once she finished her toast. “today is Saturday, so we have two days to furnish your rooms and put away your clothes. On Monday, I’ll have to go to work, and Sam will be in the office for work, so you’ll be on your own for a few hours.”

“You said you wanted to go through your old things and see what you would like to do with them, right?” Sam asked.

The boys nodded.

“We put them in the basement, that’s the room to the right when you go downstairs.” He explained. “But that’s tomorrow, so for now, you and me” he gestured to Clifford and himself with his fork. “are going to assemble your furniture, while your mom and Will do the same. Afterward we can take a break and eat.”

“Maybe in the garden?” Annie suggested, “It’s nice out today.”

“Sure. What do you say, boys?”

“Alright.” Clifford nodded and put some strawberry jam on his second toast.

 His brother just shrugged. “Sure.”

After a few minutes of ravenous silence, Annie spoke up again.

“For the next week, we won’t be there all the time. I’m glad the summer vacation is starting soon, so we won’t have to leave you alone for so long.” She sighed. “I feel bad, but I have to finish this week, I have already been moving and cancelling some of my sessions so I could get a month off starting in a week.”

“I only managed to get two weeks, but at least my vacation starts with summer break, so I get two weeks with all of you. Also, I won’t have to be stuck in the office for so long.”

Clifford suddenly looked thoughtful. “What kind of work do you have?”

“Oh, dear, we forgot to tell.” Annie put her hand to her forehead. “I work as a psychiatrist.”

“Really? Why didn’t you do what the psychologists at the hospital did?” Will asked. If she was used to people coming to her with emotional problems, maybe she wouldn’t mind him doing the same.

Their mom shook her head. “It is generally unwise to work with patients you have a personal interest or emotional investment in. It leads more easily to making mistakes. But my status as a locally well-known psychiatrist certainly helped getting Dr. O’Cain and Dr. Bronson on our side when it came to the topic of when we would be able to take you home.”

“What about you, dad?” Clifford asked. Will felt a spike of slight jealousy at the fact that Clifford seemed so much more comfortable with their parents than he was.

“I’m a freelance translator. I have worked to translate books mostly, but I also got to work on some movies and TV-Shows. The work comes and goes, so it’s good to have your mom here. She’s the one bringing home this delicious bacon!” he emphasised by biting into his bacon-loaded toast.

“Oh, shush, you.” Annie slapped his arm softly. “Back to what I was trying to ask.” She turned back to the twins. “You have both had things you liked to do when you were little, and while I would love it if you kept those hobbies, I can understand if you don’t want to. So, for next week, try to find something that you like, and if you need any ideas, come to us. We’re here for you.”

Will took a few large sips from his glass of water to wash down the lump in his throat.

 

\----14-15---------18-5-7-18-5-20-19

 

They started with the wardrobe.

“Where do you want to put it?” Annie asked as she sat on his bed and looked through the assembly instructions.

“Over there.” He pointed at the wall opposite his bed.

“Alright. We’re going to start with that one.” She gestured towards the largest of the many boxes in his room. “That’s the big one in the middle. Then we do the other smaller ones and after placing those where you want them, we put in the shelves and such. Last thing we do is put on the doors. You ready to build a wardrobe?”

He nodded and pulled over the large box and opened it up. After sorting through the pieces and making sure they were all there, they began with the assembly.

“Are you alright?” Annie asked when they were attaching the second side piece to the floor of the wardrobe-to-be.

“Hm? Why?” Will frowned.

“You have been very quiet today. Usually, you smile more, too.”

He sighed.

“Something is bothering you?”

“…I don’t know if I’m feeling the right things.” He admitted in a quiet voice.

“I believe,” she said while attaching the top of the wardrobe, “that people shouldn’t feel bad for their feelings. They are not something we can ever truly control. We can manipulate them, both our own and those of other people, but there is always some aspect of emotions that we cannot comprehend.”

“What if someone is not feeling something they should be feeling?” he asked, latching onto the exemplary third person way of talking about himself.

“Then they should ask themselves whoever told them how they are supposed to feel.” He was thankful that his mother was playing along. It made it easier to talk about.

“It’s not something they were told. They just know that they know they are supposed to feel. It’s like a universal law.” He used his little burst of frustration to lift up the finished body of the wardrobe up to stand in the room.

“Let’s place it at the wall for now.” Annie helped him move the box over before returning to their ‘hypothetical’ situation. “And I think it may depend on the feeling. When a feeling is missing, then it often is because they have no reason to feel that way.”

“The reason is there.” The boy ripped open the next package.

“…then I can’t help any further without knowing what emotion is missing.”

He knew ignoring her upon hearing this was both childish and rude, but he didn’t care much at that moment.

‘I can pretend I’m talking about someone else all I want; she knows who this really is about.’

So for now, they worked in silence, apart from the occasional ‘Can I have that, please’ and ‘Help me hold this up’. They put together the entire left side of the right side of the three-part wardrobe and put it up in the very corner. Then they pushed the middle piece up next to it and began attaching the two wardrobe pieces to each other. Will only spoke up again when they pulled out the door with the mirror on it and he inspected himself.

“I’m not sure if I like how I look.” He grumbled.

“Well,” Annie started with a mischievous smile. “I didn’t want to say anything, but the hair was your decision.”

“Not the hair, that was on purpose.” He brushed his bleached hair out of his right eye. “I don’t even know what I was thinking that day. I just recall really badly _needing_ to have a yellow eye but in hindsight…I don’t know, I mean” he quickly corrected himself when he saw the worried look his mother gave him, “I know _I_ like it, but people will think it’s weird, right?”

“Maybe, but isn’t that their loss? If you feel good with your decision, then don’t let others ruin it for you. Many people would have gone with their old eye colour, but you took an opportunity to make something about you different on purpose. Not many people would be brave enough to change something so plain in sight permanently.”

He made a thoughtful humming noise and put away the door. “I suppose. And at least by worrying about it, I found out how awesome this hairstyle looks on me.” He claimed with only a little more bravado than he felt.

It wasn’t really his ideal outcome to this talk, but at least he had one problem less. It wasn’t his biggest one, and he had a feeling that Annie wouldn’t forget their ‘missing emotion’-talk, but for now, he got rid of that stifling silence between them.

“It sure does! You have become such a handsome young man.” She gushed before sighing with that melancholy look she got when talking about their coma. “Both you and Cliff. Clifford. He used to hate that name, said it made him sound like a nerd.” She pitched her voice to sound more like that of a young boy. “‘Cliff sounds like I would jump off a cliff and survive! That’s way cooler!’, that’s what he said one day, and he kept insisting to be called that.” She sighed dramatically and put her chin in her hand. “And now he’s changed his mind again. Always the other thing.”

“Did you call me Willard all the time?”

“Only when we were serious with you. ‘Willard Taylor, come here!’ and then you’d try to switch clothes with Clifford and make him go get in trouble in your place.”

He laughed. “Won’t be able to do that now. Too bad I changed my hair.”

“Oh, you didn’t get away with it back then either.” Annie screwed on the last piece of the third wardrobe part. “Come on, let’s lift this up.”

While she screwed it onto the middle part, she continued her story. “One day, you were playing and running around the house, and when you got to the stairs, you used to do this thing where you would grab one of the beams in the middle and jump over the next few steps before grabbing the next beam. And you always tried to slide downstairs without touching the steps.”

“That sounds like an amazing idea.” He grinned. “I really wanna try that now.”

“Well, you weren’t supposed to do that! You could fall and get hurt, I used to tell, you. But you were a kid, of course you didn’t listen.”

She paused and looked at their handiwork. “So now we put in these.” She gestured to the boxes of shelves. “Just watch out to not put them where the holes for the doors are, alright?”

“Okay.” He grabbed a shelf and began putting it in. “Now continue, what happened?”

“Then one day you did fall down, right into a box we had standing there. Our television had been broken, and we had ordered a new one. That was the box of that TV.”

“Ouch. What happened?”

“Well, the TV inside must have made some frightening crunching noises. Too bad you didn’t know that we’d already replaced the old TV and put it in the new one's box. So no harm done.” She smirked. “But little five-year-old Will didn’t know, so you panicked. You put it back where it stood before and when I called you down because of the hole your foot made in the box, you sent down Cliff.”

“And he didn’t get in trouble because I wasn’t even in trouble at all?”

“Even better! I know my boys well enough to tell you apart, even though we always pretended like we couldn’t. So what I did was worry if you’d gotten hurt falling down the stairs and if you wanted some ice-cream to make it better. Of course, then you decided to let me know you let your brother get in trouble for you. And then that’s why you didn’t get any ice-cream.”

“…That is diabolical.” He said with a glimmer in his eyes. “Poor me.” He went to pick up the clothes rail for his middle wardrobe.

“You were pretty furious with me” she chuckled. “I believe you accused me of witchcraft.” Annie picked up the instructions again and pulled up the box with the parts for the separating unit to put in the lower half of the middle wardrobe.

“No way!” He laughed.

“Yes way! And you didn’t talk to Clifford for a week. Pretty sad, considering he was always watching out for you. He always did take his 23 minutes very seriously.”

Will didn’t have to think at all to make the connection. “He’s the older one?”

“He is, but I have noticed that currently, you are the taller one.”

“Really? I didn’t. Are 23 minutes long?” He had a feeling it would be way over the norm, but why would he know what the normal distance in time between twins being born is supposed to be?

“It is, but not too much so. There is normally a 10- to 30-minute gap between one twin and the other, but any longer or shorter is still is possible. I used to get told all kind of stories, from children getting stuck and needing to get born via caesarean, which took three and a half hours. Or about that one woman who went into labour early and delivered one child three months before the other. Then, of course, there are the easier births only 3 or 5 minutes apart.”

He whistled. “That’s a big range. How did our birth go?” He sat down next to her and began assembling the two drawers that would go next to the laundry bags in the bottom of the middle wardrobe part.

“You were gigantic babies. I didn’t need a c-section, so it took me what felt like an eternity to-” she cut off suddenly, pausing in her work as well. Will watched her face take on a perplexed and thoughtful look.

“What?” he asked.

“Do you know what a caesarean is, Will?” she asked with a strange tone in her voice.

‘Ah, another one of these things I shouldn’t know.’

Every once in a while, he would be reminded that something was wrong with his head. Even though he was told it was most likely nothing bad, nothing that would hinder him in daily life, it was still something wrong. Something that weirded out even his mother. Something that may give him knowledge of some things, but may also be at fault for other things missing.

“It’s an operation that is used when babies can’t be born naturally without putting the mothers or their own life at risk.”

“How is a baby born naturally?”

“….Um.” he must have made some really disgusted face, because it got the smallest of amused snorts from his mother. He decided to lighten the mood and tried to keep his face in said grimace. “I-…I can’t explain this.”

This prompted a small laugh from her, but she still had a strange look in her eyes. He sighed.

“I don’t know how I know. And nobody else seems to either. Not even the so-called _professionals._ ” He snuck a look at her before his eyes darted back down to the drawer he was assembling. “I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “No, you have nothing to be sorry for. This is something new and strange, and I feel terrible for wanting to-” she cut off. “I love psychology, I always have been fascinated by it. Being a psychiatrist is literally my dream job, but I tend to… overanalyse the people around me. I didn’t want to make you feel guilty for anything, and I’m sorry if I get carried away.” She reached out and touched his cheek, lifting his head up to meet her eyes. “I want you to tell me if I make you uncomfortable. I’m your mother and I love you.”

Will averted his gaze again and hugged himself, feeling cold all of a sudden.

“And I want to know if something is bothering you. Don’t be afraid to tell me anything, I will not think less of you for any of it.”

“Alright. But… later, okay?” he said softly.

“That’s alright. Take your time, don’t feel pressured.”

“M-hm.” He nodded, before turning back to his half-way finished drawer.

The silence that followed during the rest of the assembly was more warm and comfortable, and he was sure there was something else there too. An understanding of sorts. It felt safe. Will felt something inside him relax.

This was fine.

“Okay, now let’s put on the doors. This shouldn’t take much time, and then we can get something to drink and start on the desk.”

“Right. About that.” He recalled the taste of the water from the attic sink. “Is there a way for me to not have to drink the water from the sink up here? It’s really really gross.”

“We can get you some bottles to fill up downstairs?” Annie offered as she lifted up the first door.

“Sure. Thank you.”

After the doors had been attached and the wardrobe was complete, they took a few steps back to admire their work.

“That looks good.” Will said proudly.

“Yep, now we just need to clean up the wood dusting inside and then we can put in your new clothes.” She put an arm around his side, since she couldn’t quite reach his shoulders comfortably, and steered him to the door. “Let’s go downstairs. We need some drinks and a rag.”

As they went down to the ground floor, they heard some music and singing from Clifford's room.

“Seems like they are having fun too.” Annie giggled. “You want to put on some music too?”

“Nah, I’m good.” He shook his head to dislodge the strange feeling he got.

‘Something about this feels familiar. Am I remembering something?’

He got that odd feeling of almost thinking of something, but not quite and why is this so hard, it’s just his brother singing a song, he’s tr ~~ying to keep you al~~

He was downstairs, pulling out the ice tea he had bought from the fridge. He doesn’t remember walking the rest of the way down.

‘Must have been the head injury. Should write down it’s acting up again.’

The twins both had a few problems with their memories, and every now and then, one of them would forget what they were doing. They were supposed to write it all down in their notebook, but it was hard to write down something you forgot, especially if you were, for example, drawing or writing, and had no real concept of time passing.

Annie got a wet cloth and some water for herself to drink.

“Is that really so good?” she asked, sceptically eyeing his bottle.

“Yes.” He said with an intense expression. She laughed.

“Can I try?”

“Sure, here.” He held out the bottle.

After taking a sip, her face went from initially weirded out, to thoughtful and then to mild disgust. “Nope. Not my thing. And this is pine flavour?” she took a look at the label. “Who gets these ideas?”

Will shrugged and took back the bottle. “Well, I love it.”

“We’ll probably have to go a few more times before your rooms are properly furnished. You’ll still need at least one shelf and a few other things, so when we go back, we can get you some more.”

“Aww, thank you!” he grinned and hugged her.

‘Is this the first hug I initiated? Oh wow, I think it is.’

The hug didn’t last very long before he backed off again.

“Let’s go build a desk!” he proclaimed before striding out of the kitchen.

“We have to put away your clothes first!” his mom called after him.

“Alright!”

 

\----1-2-15-21-20--------20-8-9-19--

 

Putting away his clothes had seemed way easier than it was.

Apparently, his way of putting them away was wrong. He could accept that. What he couldn’t see was why his mom’s way was the right one.

“Why can’t I put this shirt with the other ones?” he asked, holding a soft blue shirt.

“Because that is a button down shirt, the fabric will get wrinkles if you don’t put it on a hanger.” She took the long sleeved shirt from him and put it on a hanger.

“What about these?” he picked up the two jackets he got. One was a light summer jacket, the other one was a windbreaker jacket for when it would get colder and windier.

“You can hang up the cold weather jacket in here for now, the other one you can take downstairs later. You should take your shoes down too. There is a shoe rack right next to the coatrack in the hallway, we put up a bigger one already, so you can pick a shelf for your shoes.”

“Okaaaay.” He looked over his different shoes. “So, I think the garden shoes can go on the terrace? And the house slippers can stay up here, right?”

“You got it.” Annie folded a pair of light blue shorts and put them away.

“Great. So… these?” he picked up the bag with the underwear and socks in it. “In the drawers, right?”

Annie started laughing.

“What? Is that wrong?” he frowned. “I really don’t know!”

“It’s just-” his mom gasped for air “You- you know how- and what a c-section is, but - haha- you really just don’t get basic order! It’s adorable!” she tried catching her breath.

“Well, I don’t!” he dumped the contents of the bags on the floor and began ripping off the price tags.

“Don’t be mad, dear.” She wheezed. “I didn’t mean to make fun of you.”

“Yeah, yeah, just help me with my clothes.” He grumbled and threw a pair of socks at her.

A few moments later, he got hit with his pillow.

“What?!” he stared at his mom, who was sitting giggling on his bed. “Why?”

His betrayed expression sent her into another laughing fit, and soon, they were throwing socks and some of the clothing bags at each other and trying to… he actually had no idea what this was supposed to accomplish.

But it was fun at least.

After a few minutes, both were lying next to each other on the floor, catching their breaths.

“Now.” Annie started after her breathing returned to normal. “We have to clean up.”

He looked around. His room was a mess. There were socks everywhere, the bags had nearly all been ripped open and their contents were spilling out.

“We really should.” He agreed hesitantly. “But I kinda like this.”

“Nuh-uh, young man. You’re not getting out of cleaning up your room.”

“Okay, okay.” He whined and started gathering up a few socks.

In the end, it seemed a bit easier to put things away after spreading them everywhere. Or maybe that was just because seeing everything together made it easier to see which clothes went together and which did not. During clean-up, he also picked an outfit he wanted to wear today. A regular red t-shirt, his black ripped up shorts and his choker.

He went to the laundry room to change while Annie got started on the instructions for this desk. When he had returned, she had asked him why he had picked out the choker anyways.

“I just really like it. And it looks good, right?”

“It does, but…” Annie shrugged. “I don’t know, I was curious.”

She held up the instructions. “There really are just two things to do. We have to assemble the drawers, then put the table top on it. Do you wanna build the drawers or the corpus? Cor..pi? Corpuses?” She made a face. “I’ll have to look that up later…”

“Corpora!” Will exclaimed.

She grinned. “Alright, then I’m in charge of the drawers!”

He pouted. “Cheater.”

She stuck out her tongue at him and began assembling the first of the drawers.

He suspected he would be done faster after he finished the first corpus and she was still at her third drawer. Since each of the sides would have five drawers, she would probably start putting in the drawers of the first compartment.

“I can help with the other drawers, too.” He offered.

“Of course, I knew I wouldn’t finish before you do.” She smirked. “So now, you have to help me.”

“…You are _evil_.” He breathed.

“Heheheheh!” she cackled dramatically.

“And crazy!”

She nodded sadly. “I gave my sanity to Clifford. Your dad was selfish enough to keep his, so here we are…” she sighed.

He chuckled. “You’re a great mom.”

“And you’re a great son.”

He dropped his gaze and turned back to his work. “You don’t know that yet.” He said with a note of resignation

“I do know.” She stated. “Because I will always think that my children are the best there are. Now hand me the screwdriver.”

They had just finished putting in the drawers into the two drawer compartments when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in.” Annie answered while pushing one of the drawer compartments into the alcove at the window. The table had the perfect size to fit exactly into that gap.

Sam peeked in. “You’re still on this?”

“Your son has no sense of order, sorting his clothes took forever.”

“My son?” he chuckled “I see how it is.”

His father entered and Clifford trailed in after him.

“I like your wardrobe.” He commented. “It suits you.”

“I would say the same for yours,” Will grunted as he lifted the second compartment to sit at the other side of the gap. “But I still have to see it. Can you help me with the table top?”

Sam went for it before Annie could. “On it.”

After putting the last piece in place, Willard collapsed on his bed and breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m never moving again.”

“Did you have fun?” Sam asked.

“I did.” Annie answered and gave him a peck. “We got a lot of mother-son bonding time in. What about you?”

“Well, we found out that Clifford’s violin might still find a use.”

“What happened?” Annie asked with an apprehensive tone.

“Nothing bad! He still likes music.”

Clifford added. “I might pick it up again.”

“Well, and then there was that other thing…”


	5. So Long I will give Life to thee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone! :3  
> For this chapter, I actually made a playlist, if anyone wants to hear the music Clifford is listening to with Sam  
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKmyaewX1iuUj1NYXXafczqgzpT4-SGO0&disable_polymer=true
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D  
> (And the music)
> 
> Holly~♥

After breakfast, Clifford and Sam went upstairs to get started on the boy’s room. For now, they had placed his bed in the corner left of the door, but the teen was already contemplating that he might move it elsewhere later.

“Alright, Cliff- ord” his father corrected himself. “What do you want to start with?”

“How about we assemble the desk first?” he asked. “That way we have more room for the wardrobe.”

The room wasn’t small, but the bed took up nearly a quarter of the space. There was also the small detail that they had put the boxes for the desk on top of those for the wardrobe.

“…yeah, that’s probably the smarter thing to do.”

They went straight to work, Sam reading out instructions and sorting out the different desk parts while Clifford started to assemble them. They had only gotten done the left hand ‘legs’ -which was essentially a large compartment for a computer- when Sam suddenly stood.

“Do you mind if I put on some tunes?” he asked. “I tend to work better with music.”

“I don’t mind, go ahead.” Clifford watched his father leave the room. After only a minute, he returned with a small box.

“It’s a Bluetooth speaker.” He explained as he fiddled with his phone. After a few seconds, sound was filling the room and Sam went back to help his son with the assembly of the desk.

“Okay, back to work.”

_“Oh, today I’m just a drop of water, and I’m running down a mountainside”_

“She has a nice voice.” Clifford remarked as he worked on the compartment that would go on the right side of the desk, with a smaller cupboard and a drawer in it.

 _“_ _Come tomorrow_ _I'll be in the ocean; I'll be rising with the morning tide.”_

“She really does. Her name is Gabrielle Aplin.” They worked in silence for the rest of the song, apart from Sam softly humming along to the song.

There was a soft itching in Clifford’s ears that told him he was slightly off tune. So, when the song had ended, Clifford spoke up.

“Could we hear it again, please?”

“Sure.” His dad grinned and reached over to replay the song.

“I played the violin before, right?” he asked his dad.

“Yes, why?”

“So, it would be reasonable to assume that I may be able to tell if someone was singing off tune?”

Sam stared at him for a long while, then his eyes softened and he smiled. “You told me that every time I sang.” He chuckled. “I can’t believe you still do this”

They had just finished with the second compartment and were putting in the drawer when the song ended again. The next one started up with a faster pace.

“What’s this one called?”

Sam just pointed at the speaker.

_“Sweet dreams are made of this, who am I to disagree? I travel the world and the seven seas, everybody's looking for something.”_

Pretty soon, both were nodding along and started to pick up their speed unknowingly. When the song ended, Clifford motioned for his dad to repeat the song.

“Should I just put all songs on loop and we skip to the next when we had enough of one?”

“Sounds good.”

“I really have to thank you, your mom always keeps talking during the music. It can be really annoying at times.” Sam chuckled.

“That would drive me crazy. Isn’t music meant to be for relaxing? How can you do that if someone keeps talking over it?” he frowned.

The older shrugged and put the music back on. They kept working, completely losing track of time during the ever-looping music. So when they were done with the entire ‘table part’ of the desk, and were about to get started on the shelf that would go on top, Sam suddenly gestured to his son that he was going to change the song.

Clifford nodded and listened for the next songs beginning. The third song started with a slightly slower, but upbeat tune.

_“I'm sitting here in the boring room, it's just another rainy Sunday afternoon.”_

They had only finished putting up the last compartment and were about to put in the shelves and put together the two drawers that would go into the shelf when Clifford reached over and picked up his dad’s phone.

_“I wonder how, I wonder why, yesterday you told me 'bout th-”_

He paused ‘Lemon Tree’.

“Is it okay if I look through your music? I’d like to pick something myself.”

“Sure, knock yourself out. I’m pretty sure I have some foreign music on there as well, so don’t wonder when you come across some weird languages.”

“What languages can you speak?” Clifford recalled how he had said he was a translator earlier. He was sure you’d need more than two languages to be successful in a job like that.

“English, obviously, then there’s German, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian…. And I was thinking about learning Japanese.”

“That’s’ impressive.” Clifford said. He had actually found a ‘Foreign’ Playlist and was looking through it. There wasn’t a single song with a title he could read.

Wait, no. There was one. And another. But still, most of these were not something he could read. In the end, he just put the playlist on shuffle before he went back to help his dad with the shelves.

 

 _“Une lumière dorée brille sans fin tout au bout du chemin._ _“_

_„Todos mis sentidos van pidiendo más. Esto hay que tomarlo sin ningún apuro.”_

_„Не хочу твоих снов. Нам с тобой не по пути.“_

_  
_ After they finished setting up the desk in the corner where it was supposed to go and had put away the empty cardboard boxes into the hallway, Sam sat down on Clifford’s bed and shut off the music. Clifford pretty much collapsed next to him on the bed.

“We were quick.” He said upon checking the time. The teen answered with a drawn-out groan. They had started after breakfast at about 11 AM, and now it was only an hour and a half later. The desk was now in pushed into the corner on the right side of the window, facing the right wall. Clifford didn’t want to work with his back to the door. They would put the wardrobe right beside the desk, so there would be an open space next to the bed for a while.

“We still have to get you some bookshelves and such.” Sam noted.

“Did I read a lot?” Clifford asked hesitantly.

“Not really, no. Will did though. Now he doesn’t seem to be that interested anymore…”

Clifford watched as his father’s face adopted a thoughtful look. He seemed a little sad. The younger felt a small wave of concern and worry, as well as some feeling of loss.

‘Why would I feel like that? Is it because I’m worried about him?’

~~‘Are you okay, brother?’~~

He suppressed the intruding feeling of having to check on Willard. He was with their mom, he’s surely alright. Last night, he had felt the same urge. It was something he had felt in small ways at the hospital, but he had always chalked it up to general concern for his brother, who had after all gotten hurt the worst. Now, however, they were at home safe and sound, but as soon as Willard left the room, he felt an itching to get him back in his sights.

When he had gone upstairs last night, using his phone as a flashlight, he had been half asleep and slightly delirious, but he did recall sitting down next to Willard’s bed and watching him sleep. His twin had seemed to be having bad dreams, so he had done the first thing that came to mind and hummed some sort of lullaby. He didn’t remember where or when he had heard it. After his twin had calmed down and appeared to be sleeping peacefully, he had gone back to bed himself. The darkness in his brother’s room had seemed less suffocating than the one in his own room.

“Were we close? Willard and I?” the teen started before stopping and thinking about how to voice his thoughts.

“You were. And I’m sure you still are, but Will seems to ….”

“He’s different?”

Sam looked taken aback, but then he nodded, an embarrassed look on his face. “Listen. It’s hard for Annie and us to accept that how you were ten years ago is maybe not how you are now. We had been prepared for you to be the same. When had been prepared for you to be different. What we had not been prepared for was the mix we got of both. It’s both a very relieving thing, as well as a scary thing. In both senses.”

Clifford’s stare urged him to continue.

“It’s frightening, because you both are still supposed to be seven years old. But you clearly look and talk like someone ten years older, which is a little off-putting, but a relief as well. While it is a little scary on a scientific and psychological level, as your parents we are immensely glad we won’t have to home-school you. It would have been torture to raise seven-year-old children in the bodies of seventeen-year-olds. Can you imagine seeing a teenager playing the way a child would without someone telling them to ‘Act your age’? That was actually our biggest concern, you would have been completely isolated. Too old to play with children your mental age, too naïve to be let outside with teenagers.”

He took a deep breath.

“But then, while it was both worrying and lucky to have you change in this way, there was still the fact that you haven’t changed at all at the same time. Willard had always been a troublemaker and quite frankly, to see that mischievous look in his eyes now… well, eye, but. You know what I mean.” His dad made a dismissive gesture. “He still is a troublemaker, just in a teenager way, a-and you are still into music, if I caught that?”

Clifford nodded and shrugged.

“I mean, you told me the exact the same thing you always used to tell me when I started singing!” He ruffled his hair. “And it’s good. It’s amazing to have our little boys back. But then…you are not little. And we know we can’t treat you like you are. But we still slip into it so easily, and you don’t even complain. Did you notice that? I wanted to ask if it made you uncomfortable.”

“I did, but I believe Willard has not.” Clifford said in a sweet and lulling tone he hoped would let his dad calm down a bit. Sam had always seemed like the strong quiet husband to Annie’s constant worrying and nagging, but apparently he also had a lot on his mind. “He worries a lot about this, you know. About you and mom expecting him to be a certain way. I know you tell us not to worry.” He quickly added upon seeing his dads upset expression. “And I think I got it, but he still has some sort of problem with something. I just don’t know with what...”

“Maybe Annie gets some sort of talk in the way we did.” His dad looked up at the ceiling. If they listened closely they could hear Annie and Willard laughing.

“I hope so. Willard has something on his mind.”

Sam chuckled. “And you still know your brother inside out.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, you were always very proud of technically being the older one, so you often took a big brother role and made it your job to know every little thing about Will. And whenever you could, you would be there for him. Sometimes you would humour him and take the blame for something he did, which is fairly easy for twins.” He chuckled. “But then again you would be downright devastated if you were somehow unable to help him out of a tough spot, even if how he got there was his own fault.”

 

Sam sighed and shook his head. “We should probably get back to work. At this rate, we won’t make it in time for the break.”

He stood up and held out a hand to help up Clifford, then both went to work on the wardrobe. They went through the instructions together, then put the music back on and lost themselves in their tasks. Every song had to be listened to at least once, most of them twice, and some just looped for however long until one of them skipped to the next song.

 

_“As the smile ran away from his face ‘Well I’m sure that I could be a movie star…’”_

_„Ой, смереко! Розкажи мені, смереко“_

_“With the lights out, it's less dangerous! Here we are now, entertain us!”_

_“Bis zur nächsten langen Nacht, wenn der Teufel mich verlacht!”_

It took them about an hour to get done with the two wardrobes, minus the shelves and drawers. Clifford had planned to put his clothes rail into the slightly smaller left part along with his laundry baskets. At the moment, they were building the drawers that would go into the right side along with a few more shelves for clothes.

“As I burn another page, as I look the other way, I still try to find my place…”

The teen only realized what he’d been doing when he caught the teary-eyed look on his dads face. He clapped a hand over his mouth, face turning just a bit red.

“Aww, come on, that was beautiful!” Sam begged.

“M-mm” Clifford pressed his lips together and shook his head.

“Oh well.” His dad’s shoulders sagged and he sighed dramatically. “That’s a shame.”

The teen rolled his eyes good-naturedly and went back to work with a small smile on his face.

“But you really do have a nice voice. Just saying.” Sam quickly stated while changing the song.

 They finished up the drawer they were working on and while Clifford got started on the second one, his father attached the rails for the drawers, as well as the holders for the metal pipe that would make the clothes rail.

_“As I burn another page, I still try to find my place-”_

After this, Sam left Clifford to put in the shelves so he could go ahead and get his sons clothes free of their price tags.

“Doesn’t make much sense to crowd around one wardrobe to put in some wooden boards.” He explained.

Soon, the two men found themselves folding and sorting Clifford’s clothing, The younger excused himself for a bit to go change into a black button down t-shirt and a pair of dark blue shorts the bathroom. He started humming after finding the silence in the room next door to his bedroom to be too …. something. Lonely, maybe?

‘At least now our parent won’t have to worry about me finding a hobby.’

The thought had popped up suddenly, and while he was surprised to already consider his… fancy for music a hobby, it still felt right somehow.

‘They did say I used to play the violin. I wonder if I can still do that? Maybe I can try tomorrow when we go through our old things.’

He returned to his bedroom and saw his dad folding his clothing.

“How about this? I fold them, you sort them? It’s your wardrobe after all.” He offered.

“Sounds good to me.” Clifford wiped away some dust from the shelves, then shrugged and started putting away the folded up clothes.

Since they were almost done, Sam leaned over to shut off the music after folding the last of the clothes.

_“And the last known survivor stalks his pre-.”_

“Now, anything else? I can take out the trash, while you’re finishing up. Your plants and the picture are still in the hallway, should I go get them?”

“I’m nearly done, I can get them myself.”

“Gotcha.” Sam stood and went to gather the various boxes and plastic wrappings strewn around the room.

Just a moment after he left, Clifford took a final look at his wardrobe before shutting the doors. Going outside, he gathered up the two smallest plants, some kind of succulents in pots that were about the size of his fist. After taking a look around the room, he put them on the windowsill before retrieving the largest of the plants. He put the ‘majesty palm’, as it was called, into the corner the boxes had occupied this morning. The last plant went on the top shelf of his desk for now. It was a spiky little thing, went up to his knees when he put it on the floor. Apparently, it was supposed to be a miniature version of some Norfolk Island pine, if the label was correct.

He had just put down the pot when his father came in with the forest picture and the clock he had gotten. It had a sleek black face with roman numbers as well as golden clock hands.

“I don’t have anything to hang them up with right now, so do you mind if I just-” Sam placed the two items at the far wall, right next to his bed.

“That’s okay. We can do that later, right?”

“Exactly. We deserve a break.” His dad looked up at the ceiling. “You think they’re done yet?”

Clifford shrugged. “Perhaps?”

“Let’s go check, okay?”

Both went upstairs and Sam knocked on the door before peeking in.

“You’re still on this?”

Clifford tried to look around his dad to get a look at the room.

“Your son has no sense of order, sorting his clothes took forever.” He heard his mother say.

“My son?” Sam chuckled “I see how it is.” He opened the door and strolled into the room, Clifford following right behind. He took a look at his twins wardrobe. It was bigger than his, but then again, Willard had started expressing interest in more clothes than he did toward the end of their shopping trip. He would probably be able to fill it up pretty soon.

“I like your wardrobe.” He commented. “It suits you.”

“I would say the same for yours,” Will grunted as he lifted a drawer compartment for his desk over to the alcove in the slanted wall of the roof. “But I still have to see it. Can you help me with the table top?”

Clifford had thought he was the one Willard was talking to, but it turned out to be a general request when his parents moved before he could. Sam was the quickest. “On it.”

After putting the last piece in place, Willard collapsed on his bed and breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m never moving again.”

“Did you have fun?” Sam asked.

“I did.” Annie answered and gave him a peck. “We got a lot of mother-son bonding time in. What about you?”

“Well, we found out that Clifford’s violin might still find a use.”

“What happened?” Annie asked with an apprehensive tone.

“Nothing bad! He still likes music.”

Clifford added. “I might pick it up again.”

“Well, and then there was that other thing…”

“No.”

“He can sing.” Sam stage-whispered conspiratorially into his wife’s ear.

“Noooo!” Clifford hid his red face in his hands.

“Awww, Cliffy, come on! Sing me a lullaby!” Willard taunted with a large grin.

“Shut up, Willard.” He watched in satisfaction as his brother’s face twisted at his full name.

“Don’t call me that!” he whined

“Don’t call me ‘Cliffy’, you….” He struggled for words, then looked to his parents for help.

“Waffle.” Annie said with a panicked look, which made Willard break out into laughter.

“Imbecile?” offered Sam.

“Sam!” Annie bristled at witnessing her husband’s suggestion.

“What? They’re seventeen for goodness sake! If all goes well, they’ll be in high school after summer break. They are clearly lacking teenage vocabulary, and ‘imbecile’ is not the worst they’ll hear, don’t you think?” he reasoned.

“They don’t have to hear it from us though!” she argued back.

“Well, where else then? Not from their teachers, , not from our neighbours –probably- and not from us.” He listed. “That would leave school itself, and by then it would be too late –you know how teenagers are- and it would make their social life harder in the long run, so that leaves the internet.” He finished.

“They don’t even have Wi-Fi on their phones yet,” Annie mused. “or a laptop for that matter, which they are going to need soon anyways.”

To Clifford, that sounded like it would warrant another shopping trip.

“Does that mean another shopping trip?” Will rolled onto his stomach and groaned into his mattress.

‘My thoughts exactly, Will.’ Clifford added his own exasperated look into the twin’s mix of the ‘Oh-my-god-please-no’-face.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be shorter and better.” Sam assured, which didn’t assure him at all. Judging from Wills suspicious face, his brother wasn’t either.

“Really.” Annie added. “We’d just go look for some electronics, and for the start, only essentials. We may have saved a lot, but we still have to budget a little. So, laptops and some internet options for your phones.”

“… And I’m throwing in one choice item for each of you. Boys need entertainment after all.”

Clifford could very nearly feel the slightly irritated amusement leaking from his mother.

“Suck-up.” Annie grumbled, before smugly puffing up a little. “Well, I think we could very well go eat ice-cream afterwards.”

His brother suddenly sat up in his bed with a hopeful expression, clearly having noticed the same thing Clifford had. He looked over to their dad.

“Hmm…” he made a thoughtful face before grinning. “I think I’ll even pay forward. Let’s spend this evening at the trampoline park.”

Annie laughed. “Alright, dear,” she turned to the boys. “And you’ll get pizza from me.” She winked

“You’re amazing.” Will whispered.

“Both of you.” Clifford chuckled.

Sam laughed along. “It seems we have our evening planned out. And tomorrows as well.”

“But for now, let’s go take a break. You can go ahead into the garden to get the table ready, I’ll get our snacks from the fridge.” Their mother held open the door for them all.

“You can go ahead, I think I’ll change first.” Will shooed them out.

“I’ll wait by the stairs.” Clifford said.

He didn’t have to wait long, and Will came back out of his room soon in a light blue pair of jeans and a dark red t-shirt.

Clifford was confused when Willard stopped at the top of the stairs. He looked up to check on him. “Are you coming downstairs or not?” he asked.

“I will, just get out of the way first.”

“Alright, fine?” he didn’t know if he should be offended by that.

When he was on the first floor, he looked up to Willard.

“You’ll get kicked in the face if you stay there.” His twin warned. He lifted his hands in a surrendering gesture and backed off. A short moment later, Willard was…. doing _something_ that made him glide down the wooden posts in the middle of the winding staircase. He got down to the first floor without touching the steps once.

“That was amazing.” Will giggled in a slightly concerning way before nearly barrelling down to the ground floor in the same manner.

The ‘older’ twin shook his head and followed him in a more normal manner.

They joined their parents in the kitchen and were promptly asked to help. Will went to help their dad clean the garden table, and while Clifford wanted to stay behind to help Annie, it turned out there wasn’t much to do to help. She only had to get the ‘mystery’ snacks from the fridge and shooed him out immediately to keep them ‘mystery’ snacks.

 

\--------------------------------

 

The garden of their house was moderately sized, with a mostly wild look. The patio was in a slightly better condition. That wasn’t to say the garden looked bad, but Clifford felt like no one had been taking care of it for a while. The men of the house made quick work of cleaning the table and the two wooden benches before putting on a nice tablecloth and some pillows that Sam got out of a box standing at the brick house wall.

“I bring gifts of frozen deliciousness!” Annie sang, bringing out a plate of popsicles.

“Are those watermelons?” Will had a questioning look on his face.

“Homemade watermelon popsicles.” Annie corrected and offered him the plate. He took one and passed on the plate around the table. While the family was eating, Clifford let his gaze drift. The garden was about three times larger than the area tiled with uneven stone slabs that made up the patio. There were slightly overgrown bushes and some trees along the hedge that separated them from their neighbours.

He couldn’t spot any flowers, just lots of green.

He felt the sudden urge to fix it. All of it.

“Who of you is taking care of the garden?” he said in what he hoped was a neutral and non-judgemental tone.

“Ah, well you know, it just… does its own thing.” Sam shrugged “Neither of us know enough about plants or have time to learn or take care of it in the first place. Work keeps your mom out and about most of the day, and I’m busy with my own work and the other housework, sooo….” He made a gesture encompassing the garden. “Here we have our contribution to our community’s oxygen production.”

“Can I try?” he asked.

“If you want to? Maybe you’ll have a new hobby soon.” Annie smiled. “I think I may still have some tools in the shed.” She pointed to a part of the house that Clifford had originally thought to be a part of his dad’s study.

“Can I go take a look?” he asked as he licked clean the stick the watermelon had been stuck on.

“Sure, go ahead.”

He put down his stick on the plate and went over to the shed. There wasn’t much inside, a lawnmower, a large shovel, a rake, a rolled up hose and a watering can, as well as four bikes. Two of them barely went up to his hip. Clifford bent down to wipe the dust off the seat of the one closest to him. It was designed to look like a rocket.

‘Must have been Willard’s.’ He took a closer look at the other bike. ‘It looks really simple compared to his.’

The bike of the younger twin certainly looked sportier, while his own actually had a small woven basket attached to the handlebars.

Tearing himself away from the bikes, he went to the door and poked his head out.

“I don’t think this will be enough, mom.” He said.

“Read up on the topic first, son, then we talk about new tools!” she called back. “We may have saved up a good amount, but we still need to budget, even though I would love to buy my little boys the world.” She sighed.

“They are awake!!??” shrieked someone behind him. He spun around to see a young woman bent nearly halfway over the hedge to stare at them with the largest grin he had ever seen. “Why didn’t you say so Mr. and Mrs. Taylor?” she pouted. “Can I come over, please?”

“Um, Cordelia, wait a moment.” Annie quickly stood and walked over to the redheaded girl as Clifford backed away slowly.

“Who is that?” he heard Will ask their dad.

“She used to be a classmate of yours.” He answered in a lowered voice as Annie talked to …Cordelia?

He walked back over to her, trying to catch what she was saying.

“-on’t remember anything. I can’t even guarantee you would be friends again. And we actually wanted to call you this evening.”

“We were friends?” he asked, startling his mother who hadn’t heard him walk up.

“Well,” the girl drawled “I was more Willy-Billy’s friend than, but we got along as well.”

He snorted. “ _Willy-Billy_?”

 “Your bro, dummy.” She laughed, then vaulted over the hedge. She looked him up and down. “This is so unfair.” She went to her tiptoes and tried to push down on his shoulders. “You’ve just had to become a giant. I used to be the tallest, and now the small bean of the group is like….this.” she gestured up and down his body.

“Uhm, thanks?” He was unsure how to react to this girl.

She marched past him and walked over to his dad and brother.

“Alright, stand up, Willy boy! I wanna see if you’re the same.”

Willard hesitantly got up from the bench and stood next to her.

“…. No fair!” she threw up her hands. “They have spent the last ten years being fed by a tube, how in the WORLD did they manage to be so damn tall?!” She ranted.

“Cordelia!” Annie exclaimed in a scolding tone. Clifford didn’t know if it was for the ‘tube’ comment or the swear word.

“Now.” She sat down at the table and stole a watermelon popsicle from the plate. “Please explain this to me. How much did I miss, and why didn’t you at least tell me and Dennis?”


	6. Small Jumps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone!  
> Thank you for all the Reviews and Kudos (^w^)~♥  
> I used to think that other authors might be exaggerating when they say how motivational that is, but now I can see that it's an amazing feeling, so thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with me.  
> Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the next chapter  
> Holly~♥

“They woke up about two months ago. We-”  Annie started, only to be cut off by Cordelia.

“Two _months_?” the teenager stressed. “You haven’t told anyone that they are awake. For _two_. _Months_?”

“We did tell their grandparent they were awake. Just.” She was struggling to find the right words. “There were some, problems, so only their immediate family would be able to visit.”

“That sounds like I’m the first one to know they are actually home, even though you didn’t tell me they were even awake. Right?”

“Yes.” Sam smiled apologetically. “They actually just got home yesterday and we were still assembling their furniture up to now. This is kinda our break before heading out.”

“I want to come with.” She decided. “I want to catch up and I’m Willy’s bestie, so I get post-coma reorientation rights.”

“So, you were my bestie, but not Clifford’s?” Will asked hesitantly. He was mildly confused, but he could see himself getting along with the headstrong girl.

“We were, what, seven? You and me, Cliff and Dennis. They were the nerds; we were the adventurers of the group. And sure, Cliff is- or rather was- a nice kid, but I always got along better with you.”

Will furrowed his brow.

“Okay, so there was you- Cordelia, right?- and a kid named Dennis. Anyone else we should be aware of before we get ambushed by them?” he asked his parents.

Sam put his elbows on the table and laid his chin on top of his folded hands. “I’m sorry we didn’t talk about it with you sooner. With you losing your memory, we weren’t sure how much good it would do you. We had planned to let you settle in at home first before letting your grandparents and our siblings know that you were home. And I’m sorry Cordelia, because we actually wanted to call you and Dennis this evening to tell you. We just wanted some time with our boys to ourselves.”

By now, Cordelia’s temper seemed to have cooled, and she sighed before nodding.

“Okay, okay, I get that. Just…. can we do something together tomorrow?” she asked slightly bashful. “I’m sorry as well, it’s just…” she looked at the twins. “So many people missed you. And I didn’t even know you were awake. By the way, can I tell Dennis? Then we can all hang out tomorrow?” she asked Sam and Annie with a pleading look.

“Of course, we didn’t mean to look like we were keeping you away.” Annie said in an apologetic tone.

“It’s okay.” Cordelia placed a licked-clean stick on the plate and rose from the bench. “Also, I just ate three of your watermelons out of frustration after literally climbing over the hedge, so …. BYE!” she backed away three steps before dashing back over the hedge. “See ya guys tomorrow!” she yelled before disappearing into her house. “Mom! Dad! You won’t belie-”

Clifford stared down at the plate. “I didn’t even notice.” He mumbled and took his second slice of frozen watermelon. Now there was only one left.

“That’s alright, you boys can have the last two.” Sam chuckled “Cordelia was always a rambunctious little girl, and now she’s a downright crazy teenager.”

“What about the rest of our family?” Clifford asked. “When were you going to tell them?”

“Well, originally we had planned to do so next week.” Seeing the irritated look in his son’s eye, Sam raised his hands in a surrendering motion. “Hear me out! You were released yesterday, and this is the last weekend before summer break as well as my and your mother’s vacations. Therefore, we thought it would be nice to have this weekend to ourselves and let you meet your grandparents and aunts and uncle and cousins when we’re there as well, so we could have gone to visit them in the first two or three days of summer break when everyone of them was actually home.”

Alright, that sounded actually reasonable to Will, but it appeared that Clifford didn’t quite share his opinion.

“Still, they must be worried. Couldn’t you at least tell them that we are home?”

“No, actually, because my mother would not have listened at all if I told her to not come by.” Sam stated. “And we couldn’t just tell one of them. That’s why we wanted to wait to tell them until we could actually work it into our schedule to meet with them.”

Will shrugged and took the last piece of melon. “Sounds like a good reason to me. I actually don’t think I’m ready to meet any family at the moment.”

“By the way, who else is there in the family?” Clifford asked.

“My side of the family is fairly easy to keep track of.” Annie started. “There is your grandmother Clara, and my older brother Finn. He has two sons, Chris is your age and Matt is two years younger. His girlfriend’s name is Wendy, but she’s not Chris’ and Matt’s mom, that was Gloria, but we rarely see her anymore.”

Will turned over to his dad. ‘Oh god, that was the easy part of the family?!’

“On my side, there is your grandmother Carla and your aunt –my older sister- Catherine as well as her husband Mark. Their four daughters, your cousins, are all older than you by at least three years and all of them have kids of their own. Jane is married to Dave, they had twins too, Anna and Patty. Then we have Sarah who married Marko only a while ago with their recently born Maddie. And Mary and Carl who have two more boys, Jack and Leo. The only one who hasn’t married yet is Pauline, but we’re all pretty sure she has her sights on someone, she just doesn’t want her parents and grandma Carla to know yet.”

“….” Will felt like the biggest idiot on earth.

‘Please let it be normal to not remember all that.’

“So, our cousins are…. Chris, Matt, Sarah, Pauline, Mary and Anna?” Clifford asked.

“Almost, Anna is your first cousin once removed. Her mother is Jane, she’s your cousin.” Sam corrected.

‘Thank god, he doesn’t get it too.’

“And our grandmothers are Carla and ….?” Will tried to recall.

“Clara.” Annie reminded him.

“Clara and Carla?” He smiled.

“We cracked up when we realized that too.” Sam chuckled.

“Can you maybe write all of that down? To help us remember?” his brother asked

“Yeah, I want to at least get the names right when we meet.” He immediately agreed to the notion.

“I think we can do that.” Annie smirked. “Just for his side of the family, or…” Sam weakly punched her shoulder. “Hahaha, I’m just kidding, dear!”

They bickered for a little while longer before eventually getting up from the table to clean up and get ready to go out.

“What exactly is a trampoline park, by the way?”

 “It’s pretty much what it sounds like.” Sam shrugged as he put away the tablecloth, “It’s a park, with a lot of trampolines. It’s inside, so we won’t have to worry about the weather, and they have a café and an arcade too.”

 

\---------------

 

“…..Are we there yet?” Willard asked, looking out the car window.

Clifford was watching the scenery flash by as well, though he suspected he was not quite as bored as his brother.

“We’ve been only driving for ten minutes, and no, we still got twenty minutes to go.” Annie explained calmly.

“Can we put on some music?” Clifford asked when Will groaned.

Sam reached over from the passenger seat to turn up the radio. The remaining car ride, the boys silently stared out at their surroundings. Their first day out of the hospital had been too full of things to do and say, and neither had really taken the time to assess the place they had, more or less, grown up in. The sides of the road were lined with trees thickly, and once in a while they could catch glimpses of the valley behind the treeline. And even though there were a few things standing out –like a wooden barrier Clifford spotted on his side that was seemingly keeping the earth from the hill behind it from spilling onto the highway – after a while it all seemed to blend together into a giant mountain forest. Which it probably was.

After they drove through a long tunnel, they could see more of the land, since the trees grew sparser for the next few miles. Now, the landscape seemed more like a desert of some kind, with lots of exposed dry ground and only a few forests in between. Soon the more natural landscape was taken over by a large concrete wall.

“What’s behind the wall?” Clifford asked.

“That’s Walnut Creek.” Sam said, “The wall is to deflect the highway noises so the residents aren’t bothered too much. It also means we’re nearly there.”

Their dad was right. Soon, they left the highway and after a few turns, they were in an area of the town that was more industrial.

They parked their car and started approaching the large, kind of grey and dull-looking building.

“There are many furniture stores and indoor activities located in this area.” Annie explained when she saw her sons looking around. She pointed at a building across the street. “That’s an indoor playground we used to go to with you. There is a fitness studio and I believe there is a climbing gym somewhere nearby too.”

Then she proceeded to hold open the door for her family before being shooed in by her husband, who took over her place at the door.

The inside was a lot more colourful than the outside. From the ticket booth at the front, the twins could see that the nearly the entire building was one big room with many different kinds of trampolines and pits with foam cubes in them. Off to one side was the café that Sam had mentioned earlier, as well as a stairwell leading to the arcade, which was actually on a balcony above the café. It was also very loud. Families talking, little children screeching –from joy or from not getting ice-cream- and teens roaring with laughter.

After Annie paid for their tickets, the family went to look for a table. They would have to leave their shoes in the area with the tables, or in a locker, and would have to go in socks.

“We’re getting too old for this,” Sam sadly admitted as he sat down, “my back would protest harshly against me up there, I swear.” He tilted his head towards the variety of trampolines scattered throughout the big hall.

“I may come tag along once or twice, but I’d rather stay behind as well.” Annie dug around in her patchwork styled purse before handing each of them a 10$ bill.

“Here. You can go play in the arcade as well, there should be a change machine up there.”

“I think I wanna go try the trampolines first!” Will was practically vibrating with energy.

“I think I’ll come along as we-”

Clifford didn’t get to finish as his twin was pulling him along by the arm towards the big trampoline court. Apart from that big court consisting nearly entirely of trampolines, the hall was filled with a second, smaller one for the kids under ten years old, four bungee trampolines and a giant blow-up bubble trampoline that currently seemed to fold in on itself, which made a rather bizarre looking cascade of human bodies tumble down one of the sides. It didn’t look very comfortable, but apparently no one seems to get truly hurt by it either.

“That looks even better, let’s go on there!” Willard changed direction after following his glance.

“That looks like it may kill us.” He frowned.

“You’re such a baby! We survived worse, right?” he grinned as he climbed up on the squishy rim of the inflatable mound. “And anyways, we can look out for each other, okay?”

~~“Promise you’ll keep me safe?”~~

“Of course I will.” Cliff answered automatically.

“Great! Now come on up!” Will started to clamber up to the top of the bubble.

‘Did I mishear? Or was that a memory? Willard’s voice sounded higher. Am I really starting to remember?’ he made a mental note to write this occurrence down in his diary before following his twin.

What came next, he could only describe as pure insanity.

There was really no jumping possible on the wobbly thing. People, ranging from ages 11 up to some in their early twenties, were climbing up the sides and using the few short pieces of rope hanging off to get on top. There, gravity pulled them all together to form a dent in the middle of the mound, which could not be seen from above. Once a certain amount of people were in said hole, it only needed one or two in the wrong place to tip the balance and make the entire lake of people spill over to one side. The resulting cascade was fun when you got lucky and tumbled down along the sides or on top of others, and a little less fun and little more uncomfortable when you were the one being squished in between or under five to six other people. Thankfully, the consistency of the bubble allowed the unlucky ones to not get any broken bones or suffocate immediately. Clifford still found himself digging his way out from under a handful of people quite a few times. Will just seemed either luckier or had figured out some sort of trick to stay on top of the cascade when it happened.

“Time-out.” Clifford rasped after getting squished a bit too much. “This is too much for me. Can we go somewhere else, please?”

Will cast a longing glance at the misleadingly colourful death contraption before sighing. “Fine. Where to?”

“The arcade? I’m tired.” The older twin was really in no mood for any more physical exertion right now.

“Already?! But I wanna go to the trampoline court first! Perhaps we could split up?” he offered. “I’ll go to the trampolines, you can go to the arcade, and whoever gets bored first can come find the other?”

Clifford really didn’t want to lose sight of Will, but he didn’t want to just hang around near the trampoline court either.

“Fine.” He turned to go over to the arcade part of the hall. “I’ll catch up with you later.” Clifford had a feeling that he would grow nervous and look for his brother before the other would grow bored with the trampolines.

 

\-----------------

 

Will could understand that Cliff was getting tired, but he himself felt like he could run around for ages and not grow tired. It was a strange feeling, but a very invigorating one.

‘Invigorating. Another one of those. Thank you brain for reminding me that I am not normal.’

~~‘ _Y_ **o** u’rE **we l**C _o_ _M_ e’~~

He headed over to the trampoline court. There were a few other kids younger than him there, but a surprising amount of adults and teens as well. The kid's trampoline court was only for kids up to ten years old, so there were a few groups of near teens, a few parents, a couple sports enthusiasts doing crazy jumps that made the younger ones go ‘woaah’ over on one side and a few siblings here and there.

The court was 8x6 trampolines big, and one of the walls even had slightly tilted trampolines on them. The other was padded with thick gym mattresses. At the far end there was a pit with foam cubes in it and a few ropes to swing from.

He started off just jumping in one place, then upon seeing some of the tricks others pulled, he tried to figure out the sort of momentum he would need for a flip.

He fell flat on his face.

Thankfully, no one had seen or cared about his blunder, so he still had the confidence to try again.

This time he actually made it around to land on his back.

Barely.

Will felt his neck. It had made some concerning noises, but it didn’t hurt much.

“Alright. Third times the charm.” He landed on the foam padding between the trampolines, flat on his back

“Ow.”

‘Foam padding. Yeah right, what’s this stuff made of, bricks?’ He sat up slowly, holding his back.

“You can do it!” A loud voice hollered into the ear of his blind side.

If anyone asked, yes, he did shriek, but anyone would have if a little kid snuck up on them.

“What?” He asked the kid crouched down to his left. He was probably just above the age restriction for the regular trampoline court, and even then he was probably one of the smallest eleven-year-olds he could imagine. “Are you even allowed in here?”

“For your information, sir, I just turned eleven years old, so yes.” The kid puffed up his chest.

‘Sir? Do I look that old?’ Will thought.

“You are trying to do a flip like that guy, right?” The kid pointed at a muscular guy in his twenties doing just that.

“I guess.” He grumbled, annoyed at getting caught in his failure.

“Well, I believe you can do it! You have to believe it too, and then you can do it.” He stated before standing up.

“Here, look at this! I’m going to swing into that pit like Tarzan!” he pointed to the foam pit at the end.

“Really?” he didn’t know what the kids deal was, but at least he wasn’t getting laughed at for his miserable attempts.

“Uh uh!” the kid nodded before taking off.

The resulting swing was pretty standard, but once the kid emerged from the foam pit, he had a giant grin on his face.

“You see?” he asked as he returned. “And I bet you can do that flip if you practice. My brother says practice makes perfect.”

“Is he here?” Will hoped to get the kid out of the way before attempting any more stunts.

“Let’s see, where did that brother of mine go?” The tiny brunette made binoculars with his hands and scanned the court. “Aha! Over there!” he pointed to a boy roughly Wills age in a corner of the court, watching one of the older people do their stunts.

“Come along, I’ll introduce you!” The kid started pulling him along across the court.

“You don’t even know me.” He resisted against the pull. “There is really no need for that.”

“Well, what’s your name?” The kid blinked up at him. “Mine’s Gregory.”

“Will. Hi.”

“Nice to meet you, Will. Now come meet my brother!”

He gave into the pulling this time and trailed after the kid- Gregory, since it seemed near impossible to change his mind. They weaved along the paddings in between the trampolines, heading over to the corner where the teens watched the adults do their tricks.

“Wirt!” he waved once they were on the same trampoline his brother was on. “Meet Will, he wants to learn the tricks too!”

‘Geez, kid, way to throw me under the bus.’ Will paled as he tried to appear nonchalant. Then he noticed the other guy doing exactly the same thing and he had to laugh.

“I see what you did there, kid! You’re good.” He grinned down at Greg, who saluted to him before running off giggling.

“I-I’m really, really sorry, uh. About Greg. Has he been bothering you?” the boy stammered.

“Nah, it’s okay. He’s a smart kid.” He extended his hand. “I’m Will. You’re Wirt right?”

“Uhm, yeah. Hello.” He reached for his hand, and for a small second, Will felt the urge to pull away. As though he was being threatened. He looked the other over quickly. Lanky, nearly as tall as him and not much muscle as far as he could see.

‘Why on earth would someone like this make me feel threatened? He’s a bean pole!’

“So you- you don’t have to stick around, if you don’t want. There’s- I just. I’m just watching. I wouldn’t be able to do any of… that.” He gestured over to a woman doing a backflip.

“Well, I wasn’t sure I would be able to make it very far either, I didn’t exactly do much sport the last few years.” He chuckled to himself. “But I did manage to get halfway through a flip.”

“What really?” Wirt looked at him, eyes darting up and down. Upon seeing his mock-offended expression he started stuttered out an apology “Oh gosh, I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean that. I just thought- Well honestly I didn’t really think- What I meant was- uhm, is I d-didn’t really believe you not doing any sports. You seem like the type for it.”

He had to laugh at the awkwardness being nearly emitted from the brunette. Will had a slight feeling of déjà-vu.

‘Perhaps that’s it? Do I actually know this guy? Is there actually a reason I feel threatened?’

“Do you live in the area? I feel like we may have met before.” He asked.

“I, uh, kinda? We –my family- moved to Piedmont a year ago.”

“Hey that’s cool. I live in Piedmont too.”

So there went the chance that they knew each other from when they were kids. But Wirt had not been around before the coma, then why did his face look more familiar the longer he looked at it? He shook his head. He was getting caught up in his own thoughts and the other boy was giving him an odd look.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to space out on you. Why don’t we ask one of them to tell us how it’s done?”

“What?! No no, that’s okay, we don’t need to bother them!” the brunette fussed.

To be honest, he would have never asked on his own. Wirt wouldn’t have even with someone else there apparently, but he obviously still wanted to learn how to do it. And really, Greg’s attempts at ‘inconspicuously’ checking if they had asked for a lesson yet were both adorable and a little annoying. So, it seemed that the task fell to him to ask the sports enthusiasts for help.

“Excuse me?” he asked a girl who had just sat down on the padding nearby after performing a series of flips and twirls. “Would you teach my friend over there” he pointed at Wirt, who looked like he was trying to phase through the gym mattress he was pressing himself into, “and me how to do a flip?”

The girl held up a hand. “Gimme a sec to catch my breath dude, okay?” She panted.

“Alright, sorry.”

“Nah, it's cool. Did you try it already?”

“A couple of times. I didn’t get far.” He admitted.

“That’s totally okay, man. You don’t know how many times I fell off a trampoline. Or on my face for that matter. How about you show me what you got so far, and I’ll give you some pointers?” she offered.

“Thanks. I’m just gonna go and tell him.” He jabbed a thumb towards Wirt before walking over to get him.

And after he started showing off his skills in nearly-almost-doing-a-flip and hearing a few tips, Wirt –and surprisingly, a couple of other teens, including Greg- began to gather around and do essentially the same. The girl, who introduced herself as Tessa, went around helping the lighter teens gain the momentum they needed by lending them a hand and giving hints to the larger ones that she couldn’t flip herself. Eventually, the other experienced jumpers came over as well and all of a sudden, it was a crash course on ‘how to not fall on your face while doing stunts’. The ‘stunt people’ -as the pseudo-students had taken to calling their group- showed them the easy beginner flips and gave them some tips on how to get over their fears.

“Hey, uh, Will?” Will was sitting down after actually making three flips in a row when Wirt came up to him. “Thanks. This is –well, really fun. So thanks for asking.”

“You should go thank your bro, he’s the one who pulled me over here.” He frowned. “Speaking of brothers, I think I’ll go find my twin.”

“You have a twin?”

“Yep.” He popped the ‘p’. “But he left for the arcade earlier, so I think I should go catch up with him now. I’m beat.” Will didn’t know why that surprised him as much as it did. He did basically do a lot of exercise today.

“Well, then I hope we see each other again. We live in the same area after all.” Wirt suddenly perked up. “Where do you go to school? I don’t think I’ve seen you before, but we may go to the same school?”

“Uhm.” Will lifted his hand to his mouth. “We actually don’t know yet.”

“Oh, did you move here recently?”

“Something like that.” Will shrugged and stood. “Still, perhaps we’ll run into each other sometime.”

“Yeah. Uh, goodbye.” Wirt raised his hand into what would have been a wave, then quickly put it down again. Will just laughed and waved back before leaving the trampoline court behind.

Finding Clifford was harder than he had anticipated. After he had found the stairs leading up to the arcade, it turned out that it went beyond what he had thought to be the end of the hall.

‘Right, the food court must have some sort of kitchen or storage in the back, and the arcade is above that.’

The arcade was full of pinball machines, skeeball stations and old looking pixelated game booths lined up at the walls, but there were also a few newer games scattered in between, with fancy graphics or controls, as well as a setup for a VR experience of some sort. Sadly, the newer games were mostly occupied. Going further inside, he even spotted a few small rides for the kids.

But after a few minutes of searching, he found his twin at what seemed to be a coin pusher machine.

“Having fun?” he asked.

Clifford jumped and pressed a button which made the arm inside the machine move to scoop up… candy. Not coins, it was small pieces of candy that rotated on the bottom of the machine and were being pushed down into the winnings slot.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that, Willard.”

Will grinned. “Why not, Cliffy? It’s fun. You win anything good?”

“M-hm. You should try these.” He handed his twin one of the few pieces that were lying next to his hand on the console. He unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth as he leaned against the machine to watch his twin.

“So how does this work?” he asked.

“You pay a dollar and get five turns shoveling up the candy. The arm moves over,” he pointed at the arm, “then you wait until you want it to go down and press the button once.” The little shovel-shaped end dug into the little candy bars and bonbons on the rotating plate. “Then it moves back, losing half the candy of course.” He sighed as he watched the colourfully wrapped sweets fall back onto the plate. “Oh well. And then you press the button a second time to land the candy on that thing.” He pointed to the pusher part of the machine.

“Aaand then you get candy?” Will watched as a few of them fell down into the slot at the front.

“Yes. But see that yellow square thing?” Clifford pointed to a box in between the candy that he had thought to be some sort of barrier at the edge of the slot. Now he saw the rope hanging off it “That is connected to this thing.” He pointed at a plushie sitting on a precarious ledge. “And I assume that it will pull it down if it ever deigns to move and fall down.” He pressed the button with nothing happening. He groaned.

“What?”

“That was the last of my money.” Clifford crouched down to open the winnings slot and whistled. “Still.” He waved over his twin.

“Woah.” It was an enormous amount of candy. “How much is that?” he asked as Clifford began to scoop it out and had to form a rudimentary bag by holding up the front of his shirt.

When they had transferred the candy to his shirt Will just had to ask. “You think it’s illegal to win this much candy?”

“I think I spent five dollars at this thing and I deserve it.” The other glared.

Will laughed and stood. “What happened to the other five?”

Clifford pulled a small wad of tickets out of his pocket. “This?”

“Maybe you can trade it in for a bag?”

“I think I want to eat them all. I’m really hungry.” Clifford remarked as he looked down at the sweets.

“Then let’s go ask our parents for food! Maybe they can watch your candy for you too.”


	7. Hop on over

They decided to not trade the tickets that Clifford had won just yet, but to wait instead until later, when Will had spent his money as well, so that they could combine their tickets for a bigger prize to share or two smaller ones.

“Now that looks like some money well spent.” Sam remarked when they arrived at their table and Clifford put down his earnings.

“I suppose? I’m a little put off that I didn’t manage to pull down the actual prize, but I guess this is still pretty great.” He shrugged, “I am actually a little hungry, do you think we could get something to eat?”

“Of course, dear.” Annie pulled up the menu that was sitting on the table and handed it to him. “They have a few different kinds of pies, as well as pizza. I would prefer it if I could get you to eat a warm meal, so how about we all get a pizza?”

“Sounds good to me.” Will said as he sneakily stole one of the candies.

“You really shouldn’t eat sweets before a meal. It’ll ruin your appetite.” Sam scolded good-naturedly.

“What kind of pizza would you like?” Annie asked as she dug out a notepad and a pen from her purse.

“I don’t know?” Clifford put down the menu on the table so that Will could look as well. “Maybe just cheese?”

After each had chosen what pizza they wanted, Annie wrote everything down and went to the counter to order.

“Why did you want pineapple by the way?” Clifford asked Will, who kept looking through the menu after deciding on what to eat.

“We had all of the other stuff in some shape or form at the hospital, so I kinda know what those taste like. I just want to try out everything.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Sam nodded “but please do take care not to overdo it, some foods don’t mix well, and some peoples bodies react negatively to some foods. Even though they may like it.” He sighed.

“You’re speaking from experience, I guess?” Clifford asked.

“I really love some of the traditional dishes in the European countries I’ve been in, but some of them still give me really bad stomach aches. It’s a matter of ‘do I want a really delicious lunch’ versus ‘Do I want to spend the next day lying in bed’.”

“What kind of foods are those?” Will looked up from the menu.

“Let’s see… when I was in Spain, I had some sort of paella, and I still don’t know if it was the spices or the actual foods inside, but I always feel a bit sick the next day. I can’t figure out why, when I eat it, it’s delicious! And in Germany, I had this lentil stew, which again, was great, but caused me to spent the majority of the night on the toilet.”

“Eww.” The boys made a slight face.

“Just telling the truth. Delicious, but dangerous. So in conclusion: It’s great trying out new stuff, but make sure there’s a toilet nearby. Not all food agrees with everybody.”

“Are you telling them about your ‘good bad food’ experiences?” Annie asked from where she had snuck up behind her husband. She turned to the twin. “Honestly. Sam loves trying new stuff, especially when we’re abroad. A lot of it turns out being not as good as he thought.” She giggled.

Pretty soon, Sam was telling them of all the countries he’s been to. It turned out their parents had been in Europe many times, and even made some trips to Asia. Clifford thought it was interesting to hear about the European countries they went to, like Switzerland, Italy, Germany or Spain, but he noticed his brother was getting bored of hearing their parents talk only about architecture. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one who had noticed, and Annie nudges her husband and told him to tell them about their trip to Japan. What they recalled of their first trip there seemed like it was more something that interested his twin.

When the pizza came, the storytelling was abandoned in favour of getting some food into their stomachs.

“So, how is it?” Clifford eyed his brother’s pizza suspiciously before taking a few gulps of water from his cup. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he had gotten.

“It’s really good!” he responded in between bites. “I thought it would have dried out more, but it’s really juicy!”

Clifford made a soft humming noise and returned to his own _simple_ pizza.

“So, what did you boys do so far?” Annie asked.

“We went on that thing,” he pointed at the bubble trampoline.

“It was awesome!” Will exclaimed with excitement in his eye. “That thing is crazy. I mean… look at that!” he pointed at it right as another wave of people tumbled down. Annie tensed.

“Are you… alright?” she asked.

“Huh? Yeah, it was fun, right Cliffy?” he bumped his twin's arm with his elbow.

“I guess. It did wear me out a bit. Willard.” He emphasized with a mildly annoyed glare.

“And after that, we split up, and I went to the trampoline court and he went to the arcade.” Will continued on, barely acknowledging his discontent at the nickname.

“What did you even do there? You can only jump for so long, right?” Clifford asked.

“Sure, but there were a few people doing some flips and stuff, so I thought I could try as well.”

“Willard!” Annie suddenly looked upset.

“What?” his excited disposition mellowed a bit. “It was fun, even if I did fall on my face a couple of times.”

“You recently woke from a ten-year coma, you shouldn’t put that much of a strain on your body.” Sam scolded.

“But I feel fine!” the teen protested. “And you were the ones who suggested going here in the first place, so why are you suddenly changing your mind?”

“We didn’t think you would have much stamina for anything more than a little bit of time on the trampolines.”

“That’s why I gave you money for the arcade,” Annie explained, “we thought you’d get tired and go play games instead!”

“So what, now it’s bad that I’m not as weak as you thought?” Will bristled.

Sam took a deep breath as Annie was struggling to find words.

“No.” he said. “No, it isn’t. We’re sorry.” He laid a hand over his wife’s.

“We are worried for you. You should-” Annie trailed off and raised her fingers to her mouth.

“While waiting for you to wake up, we thought we were aware of every possible outcome and prepared to deal with either outcome.” Sam calmly stated. “The reality of the situation, however, is that we didn’t know, and we weren’t prepared properly. That is why we keep expecting what we prepared for, and not what is actually happening.”

“If you feel like you are strong enough to do these things,” Annie spoke up again, and Clifford could see how she was carefully measuring each word to have a certain effect, “then we cannot tell you that you are unable to. That would be inconsiderate and harmful to you and your growth. But, as your parent, as your mom.” She stared at both of them with a determined look. “It is my nature to care for and about you. So _please_ do not feel criticised if I tell you to watch out and take care of yourselves.”

During her speech, Will had calmed down considerably. He stared down at his empty plate and was holding the side of his face with his right hand. Sitting on his left, Clifford could see his fingers brushing against his closed eye hidden under the bleached hair.

“Just. The next time you want to try something that puts strain on your body, we’d be a bit less concerned if there was someone nearby who could help you if something happened.” Sam sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

“Well,” Will muttered, “I did get roped into asking them to show us how to do the stunts. One of them, Tessa, showed us how to land, or rather fall, safely. She also helped some of us do the flips. Not me though, apparently I’m too heavy for her.”

“Who else was there?” Clifford asked, glad to have the conversation back on a more peaceful note.

“Eh, some kid named Gregory and his older brother. Apparently, the guy didn’t want to ask for help, so the kid tried getting someone else to ask.”

Clifford frowned. ‘Why does that name sound familiar?’

His stomach rolled and he put down the piece of pizza he’d been holding.

‘I don’t feel well. Maybe my body doesn’t agree with the food?’ he thought, recalling Sam’s tales from earlier. But no. ‘This doesn’t feel like that.’

He remembered their earliest attempts at eating solid food in the hospital. Both of them had problems keeping down the food, even when it was barely even solid at all. He shuddered. That had been a disgusting experience and he didn’t wish to repeat it soon.

But it also wasn’t what he was feeling right now.

“- and since the guy was too freaked out to ask the older people for help, I just went and asked for him. Also made it easier to ask for me, honestly.”

Annie nodded. “Sometimes it’s easier to do something you want if you know someone who wants to do the same.”

~~‘ My _b_ r **o** th **er**~~ **Will** and **I** are going home.’ ~~~~

“What?” Clifford looked up.

“Yes, it’s a really common thing.” Annie explained. “If you see someone else openly expressing that they want the same thing you do, you feel a sense of connection with them, which makes it easier to strive to the same goal.”

Something about that resonated within him. He didn’t understand why.

“So now I know a few tricks I can show you!” Willard ended his story. He felt a bit bad that he hadn’t listened to him more closely.

“And what were you up to during that time?” Sam asked.

“Me?” Clifford tilted his head. “I was just. Up there.” He pointed to the arcade.

“And what led to you getting all this?” Annie grinned and nodded towards the pile of candy and tickets.

“….I played games.” He stated.

His family laughed.

“No, bro!” Will snickered. “What games did you play?”

“Oh. The first one I tried was this sort of claw thing?”

“Ouch.” Sam grimaced “A claw machine? Lots of great stuff inside that you can never get a hold on?”

“Yes. I tried that two times I think, then I gave up. The next one was called Frog Time 2. That was actually very fun. I played that for a while and I think I got most of these tickets there.”

“They have Frog Time?” Annie looked excited. “I haven’t played that in years!  Honestly, I didn’t know they made a second one. I think I might just play that after lunch. What was your high score?”

“Um, I think it was actually from the first game I played, 71 points.” he shrugged and looked through his tickets. “I didn’t expect I would get worse at the game. I started with getting to 71, then it was sixty-something, then I only got to 24 twice in a row and I think I got sixteen before quitting after taking three steps and getting crushed by a train.”

“Oh my god, can I try too?” Will asked.

“Sure, but I lost interest after those six tries. The next one I played was pinball. That was getting boring sooner though, and I only got a few tickets. I spent the rest of the money on the candy pusher. There were some tickets in there too that fell down.”

“Really? I didn’t realise.” Will looked at the pile, and sure enough, there were a couple of small packets of tickets held together by rubber bands. “Huh. That’s neat.”

“Yeah, even though I couldn’t get the plushie.” He shrugged.

“I can put the sweets in my purse if you want?” Annie offered. “We would love to go up to the arcade with you. We’d just assumed that you would come and tell us when you went there earlier, so we’re sorry we didn’t come along the first time.” She apologized.

“That is alright.” Clifford smiled. “I had fun.”

“Sooo…” Will took a look around the table at their empty plates. “We pack this up, go to the trampoline court real quick so I can show you the trick I learned, and then we go to the arcade?”

“Sounds good!” Annie smiled and started to put away the candy, with Clifford helping her sort out the tickets in between. Sam stood and began clearing the table while Will finished his Pitt Cola.

Wills excited demeanour persisted until they arrived at the trampoline court, where he frowned for a second after scanning the area.

“What is it?” Sam asked.

“Nothing.” He sighed. “The brothers are gone. I wanted to ask you to which school we would go. They live in Piedmont too, so we may meet again.”

“That’s too bad. I’m sorry, hun.” Annie frowned before changing her expression to a reassuring smile. “But who knows, there aren’t that many schools in the area, and a lot of them are close to each other, so you might just see them again.”

“Thanks, mom.” Will smiled back before going out onto the trampolines.

Clifford did not miss his mother’s eyes welling up with tears at the small but significant word coming from his brother.

“Okay, check it out!” said brother was currently jumping higher to gain more momentum. Then he threw one of his arms down as he bounced up and tucked up his legs to his chest, which made him flip sideways through the air.

Their parents applauded and Clifford joined in quickly as his brother kept bouncing.

“That was the first one I learned, and I wanted to do the backflip, so this is the next one Tessa taught me. It’s kinda scary going backwards without seeing where you’re going, soo...” he trailed off and looked over his shoulder before surprising them by simply throwing his legs over his head in a move that had him completely upside-down and facing the trampoline for about half a second before completing the rotation and landing on his feet.

“This one, to keep sight of the ground while going backwards.” He grinned as he ruffled his bleached hair. “An also-” He jumped up, leaned backwards and landed on his back with his knees pulled up to his chest. For a second, Clifford thought he hadn’t made it, but then the momentum kicked in and he flipped backwards and landed on his back again before bouncing forward to his feet. “That!”

“We should sign him up for acrobatics.” Sam mumbled to his wife.

Then, Will showed off a few combinations of these tricks before returning.

“So yeah, that’s it basically.”

“I’m glad you’ve had fun here. While I don’t like you doing stuff like that without supervision, I can see that you enjoy this.” Annie hugged him close.

“Thanks.”

 

\---------------------

 

It may be strange, but Will felt a lot more at ease after the argument he had with their parents. It had both confirmed some things and proven him to be wrong in others. He may have been right that he wasn’t normal, that both of them were different, but his parents didn’t think less of him for it. For now, that was enough to silence any of the self-doubts that had plagued him just this morning.

Another victory, being able to call Annie his mom without any odd feelings or hesitation. It may just be that they hadn’t been able to bond properly at the hospital, and now that they were home, they could finally get to that. Hopefully, he’ll be able to spend some time with his father soon as well. Clifford seemed more at ease around him, just as he himself was with their mom, so he must have experienced the same.

After showing off the few flips he had learned, the family had gone up to the arcade, where Clifford was showing him the Frog machine he had talked about.

“-and you cannot bump into anything, and you cannot touch the borders to the left and right.” His twin finished his explanation and then left him to stand with their parents.

The game seemed simple enough. Joystick that can be pushed in four directions, favour the ‘up’ direction, as the frog has to get forward, and try not to get hit by cars and trains, and avoid jumping into water.

He was wrong.

“Oh.” he frowned as he ran into a car after eleven jumps.

“Really?” he threw up his arms after getting hit by a truck after only five.

“Are you kidding me?!” he yelled after getting trapped between two cars at 4.

“God damn it!” he shouted when he got hit by a truck after finally getting up to 47 jumps. “How do you do this?!” he tugged on his black hair with his left hand.

“Let me show you.” Clifford nudged him. He had a few more tokens in his hand. Looking back at his parents, he saw his mother’s poorly concealed laughter and his fathers amused grin. He grumbled and took his tickets from the slot before leaving the game to Clifford.

His twin proceeded to get up to 69 on his first try.

“Huh, that went pretty good.” Clifford seemed surprised.

Right, he had gotten worse when he played. As Will watched him play, he realized what it may have been. He had let himself get riled up too much too fast. His twin was staying seemingly apathetic and calm, which kept his hands steady and his eyes alert to the next incoming obstacles.

Clifford’s next score was 86. He nearly got hit after getting over his personal high score, which Will chalked up to excitement.

‘So any kind of strong emotion can influence something as simple as this game? It doesn’t matter if it’s something positive like excitement or negative like anger. Both make you reckless and inattentive.’

He watched as his twin made it past 86 on his third try and kept on going. It was actually pretty impressive. He whistled when he got over 100.

“You’re a beast, bro.”

Clifford nearly ran into a car. He made it up to 120 before jumping into the water. It seemed oddly intentional. His twin noticed his concerned look.

“I didn’t feel like it anymore.” He shrugged as he took the tickets and left the spot to Annie.

“You boys are fine?” she looked after Clifford, who went over to a Whack-A-Mole game.

“Yeah, I want to go check out some other games, is that okay?” Will asked.

“That’s fine, Sam, can you go with him, I’ll keep an eye on Clifford.”

“Sure, darling.” Sam pecked her on the cheek before walking over to him.

“So,” he clapped a hand on his shoulder. “where to, Will?”

They ended up at a Dancy Pants Revolution game.

“These are really popular.” Sam explained, “It’s a dancing game where you have to step on the arrow plated on the floor as they are shown on screen. Come on, they have a multiplayer mode. Let’s go pick out a song and have a **dance battle**.” He made his voice drop menacingly at the end, which made him chuckle.

“Okay. How do I-?” he looked around for the coin slot. After inserting some money, the screen showed them a multitude of songs.

“Wow, I know nearly none of these.” Sam stared at the screen.

After scrolling through the songs for a bit, they settled on ‘Shut up and Dance’, which sounded like a reasonable song to dance to, put the difficulty on ‘Beginner’ and hit start. The steps were easy enough and when the song was over, they tried it again on a harder difficulty. It was still doable, but a bit more of a challenge than the fairly basic steps of the Beginner mode. They tried out a few more songs with varying levels of difficulty before moving on.

“Too bad you don’t get tickets for that.” Sam sighed, “You were doing great.”

“It was fun, so I don’t mind.” He spotted a claw machine like Clifford had described earlier. “I really wanna try this.”

“The trick to these is perseverance.” Sam groaned. “The claw doesn’t lock around what it grabs, so the prongs just move around whatever they grab if it’s too heavy. Which most of the things in those machines are. If you toss in enough money, you might get lucky though and nudge the toy you want over to the slot step by step.”

“You sound like an expert.” Will grinned and put a coin into a machine full of colourful and fluffy plushies. “What even are these?” he asked as he navigated the claw to one with rainbow colours.

“I think it’s a llama?” Sam peeked into the machine.

The first few tries managed to get the rainbow llama a little closer to the slot, but then his money had run out.

“Here.” Sam handed him more change. “Clifford got some more from us too, it’s only fair.”

In the end he had spent 11$ on the machine when the plushies fell in a position that had most of its body over the slot. It only took him two more tries to nudge it in.

“YES! YES! VICTORY!” he fist pumped and pulled out the toy. His eye widened and he pulled it up to his chest with a grin. “ _Oh my god_ , this is fluffmaggedon.”

Sam laughed. “Can I see?” he took the toy as his son handed it over. “Holy shit, this _is_ surprisingly good quality for a claw machine.” He suddenly turned it over. “Ah. And apparently, it’s an alpaca, not a llama.”

Will shrugged, the grin still on his face. He hadn’t expected to get that much of a rush from winning something. “Still fluffy. Still adorable. Still has an unreasonable rainbow colour. I’ll take it whether it’s actually a llama or not.”

He didn’t really have much money left, so he handed the toy to his dad and spent the rest on a rope skipping simulator, and actually got a couple very good scores and a handful of tickets from it. They met up again with the other half of their family at one of the ticket counters near the winnings booth where Clifford was already feeding his tickets to the machine.

“Hey.” Will claimed another ticket counter next to his twin and put in his earnings. “How many is it so far?”

“300 and over.” Came the response.

Wills total of tickets ended up at 201 tickets, while Clifford’s machine was still counting.

“Figures.” Will grumbled. “I’ll go ahead and check out what stuff they got to trade for this.” He held up the voucher the machine had spit out after it finished counting.

After receiving a hum of agreement, he left his brother to the wait and took a look at the winnings at the booth that was located right next to the exit. They had a couple big stuffed animals hanging at the front, which started at 10,000 tickets.

“That’s how it is.”

Will startled. Sam had snuck up behind him. “The big ones that everyone wants are on display, so people –especially children- will come and play. But most only get enough for the stuff in the back.” He pointed over to an area where price tags dangled above boxes with small trinkets inside. In the ‘200 tickets’ section he found a couple bouncy balls, sticky hands and an assortment of key chains and key chain items, as well as some other random things like small statues and a few coin counting savings jars. The section next to it, the ‘100 tickets and under’ section was just filled with a ton of different writing implements and lighters.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Sorry, Will.” Sam shrugged in an apologetic manner.

“Nah, it’s okay.” He picked up a lighter which actually looked pretty good to him. It was a brown, cheap looking plastic one with an orange question mark on it, and many more of its kind in the box. After digging around for a bit, he found a second one that was made of metal and was engraved with a bunch of stuff. A large G surrounded by a compass and a framing square, two pillars titles B and C holding up two globes, one with the earth, the other with the big dipper on it and a pyramid with an eye in the middle of the top part of the zippo.

His father whistled. “Now that’s what I call a rare find.”

“What is it?” Clifford came up to them with their mom.

“A lighter.” He showed it to his twin.

“It looks cool.” He glanced at the price tag. “Do you want half of my tickets?” he asked.

“How many?”

“Uh, wait… that would be about….380?”

The faces that their parents made right then were…. something. He would have called them funny, if it didn’t make him feels so bad that they were directed at his brother. And himself in a way.

“Seriously?” He sighed. “Half of your tickets are more than I got, bro.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“What fo-”

“I guess I am just better at games than you.”

“What?” his eyes narrowed. “Really? You just-…. **_really_**?”

“So, do you want them or not?” Clifford grinned smugly.

“Pah! Keep them. You won’t find anything cooler than _this_ anyway.” He snatched his zippo back from his twin and marched off to the counter to pay. Clifford’s chuckling chased after him. He put his voucher on the counter and showed off the lighters when the guy there asked him what he picked. Then he went over to the stairway and sat down. From up here, he could view the entire hall.

‘We didn’t even go on the bungee trampolines. Those look fun.’ He flicked the zippo on and looked at the flame dancing. Then he blew it out and closed it again. Soon he was flicking it on and off and on and off again and again until it became one fluid motion.

“Will?” he heard his mother call.

“Over here.” He called over his shoulder and stood up.

It turned out Clifford had actually won 766 tickets with the same amount of money he won 201 with.

“How is that even possible?!” he protested.

“4 rounds of Dancy Pants and 12 more of the claw?” his dad offered.

“Ooh.” He smacked his forehead. “Right.”

“Well, after spending 500 on this dude,” Clifford held up a small black plushie which’s body was roughly the size of his hand with long legs and arms that had only two white squares as an indication of a face, “I had 266 left which got me these.” He held up a small statue of a gnome and a black lighter with some flames on it.

“What’s with the gnome?” he asked. It was barely bigger than his pointer finger.

Clifford shrugged. “I don’t know? I just liked it.”

“…Okay, at least, if you had had only my amount of tickets, you would have gotten something lamer than these. The plushie’s is hard to beat.” He reached out to feel the texture. “But. Mines fluffier, right Dad?”

Sam grinned and held up the rainbow llama he got earlier. “Does this mean you’re not mad at Clifford anymore?” he handed him back the toy.

“…Nah, we’re cool, right?” he slung an arm around his twin’s shoulder.

“Why do you need my agreement on this? You were the one all huffy about a little bantering.” His twin’s lips pulled up into a half smirk.

“Har Har. So funny. Body spasms.”

“What?” Clifford chuckled. “What are you talking about?”

He poked his brother's stomach, which resulted in a loud squeak and even harder laughing.

“Those!” Will grinned and darted down the stairs when he saw Clifford reach for his own sides in retaliation.

 

\--------------------------------------

 

The car ride back home was spent comparing prizes, with Clifford delicately handling the fluffy alpaca his twin won. Even after he had remarked that the actual term was not ‘llama’, Will had managed to call it ‘rainbow llama’ three times since their departure.

“It’s not even a rainbow, it’s just yellow, blue, orange and purple.”

“Rainbow!” Will sang and tugged it out of his hands to pull it close to his chest. “You just can’t see it’s true potential.”

“So what are their names?” Annie asked from the driver's seat.

“Huh?”

“What names?” he clarified after hearing his twin’s response.

“For the plushies of course.”

“Or do they have to live nameless forever?” Sam butted in dramatically.

“Uhm. Tall shadow man?” Clifford offered as he looked his toy in its dead eyes.

“Meh, I’ll decide later. I have no ideas right now.” Will propped up his chin on his hand while looking out the window.

But Clifford couldn’t get it out of his head. Something about his toy being nameless really irked him.

‘It looks a little like a squid.’ He played around with its long dark limbs, pulling them over its head. ‘Probably wouldn’t even be able to walk on these if it was alive. It may not even be able to sit up properly, so he would have to be carried everywhere.’

The teen turned him over a couple of times and then took a closer look at the tag on his back. Next to the company’s name, there was a small black and white logo. It kinda looked like…

“Flame?” he offered before turning it over again. “Or something like that?”

“How about Fire?” Sam offered. He made a disagreeing humming sound.

“What about that looks like fire to you?” Will poked the plushie.

“Ember?”

“Or something exotic? Fire is feu, feuer, pojar, fuego and fuoco. Flame could also be flamand, flamme, flamandets, flamenco and fiammingo.”

“Whaaaaat?” Will's nose scrunched up. “How can you pronounce these?”

“Lots of practice. Wanna hear the ones for ember?” he continued without listening for the reply. “Lueur, glut, sola, brasa aaand brace.”

“That was a little too much.” Clifford frowned.

‘He’ll just have to be a lost soul for now.’ He made a thoughtful sound.

“What is soul in another language?”

“Which language?”

“All you know?”

“Well, it’s âme in French, alma in Spanish, anima in Italian, seele in German-”

“Seli?”

“More like zay-lé.”

“Zaylé?”

“Eh, close enough.” Sam shrugged.

“So what, am I going to have to name rainbow llama something fancy too?” Will grumbled.

“Take your time, dear.” Annie said in a calming tone, “I just asked for their names because….that’s what kids do. They name their toys.”

“And she still does.” Sam grinned, “Your mom named her car ‘Julia’.” He chuckled.

“At least I am good at naming things! Your dad once named a dog ‘Perro Chien’, essentially ‘dog dog’.” She bumped Sam’s arm with her elbow. “Using another language doesn’t make your names more creative, dear.”

The car made its way off the highway and back into Piedmont. While the family inside shared a few laughs at the various names that had been given to pets and toys, the topic went towards their own names.

“We wanted names that were unique, but nothing so outlandish that people would laugh at it. That isn’t exactly easy.” Annie explained.

“And name meanings were interesting too.” Sam added, “Willard is derived from the Germanic ‘Willhardt’. The elements used in the name are ‘will’, also ‘wollen’, which means ‘to want’ in German, and ‘hard’ in the sense of ‘strong’ or ‘brave’.”

“That’s pretty cool. I think I am kinda brave, tight?” Will asked.

“It was interesting to see how well the names we gave you fit.” Annie smiled at his twin in the rearview mirror

“And what about me?” he asked.

Sam took over the explanation again. “Clifford actually means ‘ford near a cliff’. There isn’t much in the sense of meaning in the name, but there was a rather powerful family in the Middle Ages that bore the same name, and some famous musicians did as well. It’s a really strong and beautiful name, but it has been dying out in the last couple decades.”

Clifford took in the information before asking, “What’s a ford anyway?”

“It’s a shallow part of a river, where people can cross the water without the need for a bridge because you can wade through.” Sam carried on, “However, it’s kinda up to nature whether or not you’ll get to cross it. If it rained a lot, the water may be too high to get through.”

Will made a thoughtful hum, “So, essentially, his name means ‘maybe able to cross that river over there near the cliff, but if you don’t watch out, you’ll get carried down the cliff and die’?”

“That sounds pretty dark.” He raised a brow at Will.

“Thank you.” He grinned.

“That was not the intended meaning, Willard Taylor, and you know that!” Annie scolded. He flinched at her sudden harsh tone.

“Woah, alright, I’m sorry.”

For some reason, Clifford wanted to apologize as well. ‘Our mom is scary when she’s angry.’

Thankfully, the atmosphere repaired itself very quickly after Will had apologized. Sam had started talking about what they needed to get tomorrow, things like laptops, maybe more furniture –he was swiftly outvoted in that matter- or some office supplies for their desks. By the time they arrived back home, the sun was beginning to set.

“I don’t think I can move.” Will moaned when they had parked in the driveway of their home.

“Don’t be a drama queen.” Clifford unbuckled his own seatbelt, then helped his brother with his. “I’m tired too, but if I had to choose between the car and my bed, I’d still rather sleep in the latter.”

“Okay, okay.” Will whined and pushed himself out of his seat. “I’m moving already.”

They made their way into their house and upstairs to get ready for bed. After saying good-night to Will and their parents, Clifford went into his room to get dressed for bed. Just before heading to bed, he sat down at his desk and pulled out his diary from the left drawer that was in the shelf at the back of the desk. He flipped it open and searched for the last page he had written on before pulling out a pen and continuing.

 

_We went to a trampoline park today. It was enjoyable, but a little exhausting for me. I don’t know where Will gets his energy from._

_I don’t quite remember now, if it was Will actually saying these things, or if it was merely my perception of his words. Maybe I am trying to remember something, or maybe ~~something is wrong~~ Will isn’t alright. _

_The first instance was at a large bubble trampoline, where he asked me to watch out for him. Or how we would watch out for each other. Something along those lines. I could have sworn I heard him ask me to keep him safe, but the voice I heard doesn’t quite fit his voice as it is now. It may have been a memory, but I can’t tell from when it is or what happened._

**_ Promise you’ll keep me safe? _ ** _He asked._

_I feel like I broke that promise. And I cannot even remember why. It’s **frustrating**._

_What else had happened?_

_Will met two boys, a little kid named Gregory and his older brother. I get the feeling I knew someone with that name. Perhaps I should stop thinking so hard about remembering. It makes my head hurt._

_~~An~~ _ _Mom also said something interesting. She said it’s easier to do something you want if you know someone who wants to do the same. That if you see someone else openly expressing the same longing you have, you feel a sense of connection with them, which makes it easier to strive for the same goal._

_I don’t know whether the voice I heard then was mine or someone else's._

**_ We are going home _ ** _. But who? I could have sworn it said **‘My brother and I’** but I said that too, didn’t I? So it would be **Will and I** ~~and not them.~~_

_I’m too tired for this. I don’t even know who they could possibly be._

_My brother called my ~~a be~~ …something earlier when I was doing good at a game. It hurt. I don’t think he knew that he hurt me with that. I didn’t even think something like that would hurt me. And it’s not just that._

_It hurts, yes. But I also feel proud._

_I hate this._

_Why can’t I remember?_

_Is Will having the same problems?_

_And here I go worrying about him again. Why do I feel so protective?_

_It’s not as if he is in any danger anymore._

His head jerked and he opened his eyes. He nearly fell asleep while writing. He quickly snapped shut the diary and stumbled over to turn off the lights and then dart quickly into his bed and hide under the sheets. And after he had calmed his quickened heartbeat, he fell asleep swiftly.


	8. A Much Needed Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After finishing this chapter, I saved the next chapter over it and shut off my computer T-T  
> I found out the next morning and used the resulting rage to write the whole thing again, and the entire next chapter as well.  
> So, now I am two chapters or so ahead :D
> 
> I hope you have fun with this one, I sure had!
> 
> Holly ~♥

“Clifford?” Sam snapped his fingers in front of his spaced-out son’s face. “Which mouse do you want?”

Will looked over all the different colours the mice in the aisle had. He had spaced out staring at one of the more ridiculous shaped ones. Apparently, one was supposed to put it down in a way that the buttons were sideways. The picture on the box made it look like it was a challenge just holding the thing.

“Not this one.” He nodded in its direction with a weirded out look before looking over the surrounding ones. “I can’t really decide. There are more than enough simple black and grey ones to choose from, but is one brand actually better than another?”

Sam shrugged.

“Barely. Maybe one is using less battery power or doesn’t break as easily as another, but that’s not really something you can see beforehand.”

After letting the choices he had play over in his head once more, the teen tilted his head from side to side a few times and grabbed a standard grey mouse. They looked down the aisle, where Will was currently holding a rather big ‘gamer mouse’ -as it said on the packaging- and another one with an intricate design in black and white on it.

“Having trouble?” he asked his brother when he got close enough to him.

“Yeah.” The blonde -well, half-blonde- darted a look at his claimed mouse and smiled wryly. “I don’t know about you, but I had a lot of fun back at the hospital with the games on our phones. I really wanna try out more, and even if I don’t like them, this mouse has a lot of cool functions. But.” He wiggled the other mouse. “This design is really nice.....and-“ he stared at it for a second. “That is actually all... I think I just made my decision. Thanks for your help.” He put the mouse away and tucked the gamer mouse under his arm.

They met back up with their mom in the music section and put their things into the basket she was carrying.

“Honey, what is this?” Sam waved a CD with a colourful cover that depicted the earth with a lot of small scale characters standing around its perimeters.

“It’s down to five dollars! And with this, I’ll have their character songs complete.”

“What is it?” Clifford asked and reached for the CD.

“The reason why I want to learn Japanese.” Sam grumbled good-naturedly.

“These are some character songs for an anime I like.” Annie explained. “I could show you a bit if it if you’d like?”

“Please don’t infect them.” their dad pleaded.

“Don’t be so melodramatic, Sam!” Annie laughed.

“Anyway,” Sam began “we got the mice, now the boys can each go and pick out something they like within a price range of...how much?”

“80?”

“Maybe a tad more? I’d have said 100.”

“Alright, but no more big buys this month then.” Annie relented.

“You heard your mom, go take a look around and then we won’t have to go shopping for two weeks!” Sam’s grin wasn’t affected in the least by his wife’s slap to his arm.

Clifford watched his twin dart off towards the gaming section of the store before he wandered over to the different CD-players and radios he saw earlier.

They hadn’t really been in the store for long, maybe for half an hour or so. The first thing they had done was pick out two more or less identical laptops with the only difference between them being that his was black and Wills was a light blue. He didn’t really get what made these specific computers better than the others, his dad's talk of graphic cards and RAM and gigabytes went way over his head. Sam had also grabbed two packs with an Anti-Virus program before explaining to them the many different viruses that could destroy a computer and everything connected to it if they weren’t careful. Honestly, the sheer intensity of the lecture had scared him a bit. Afterward, they had realised that the laptops were a bit heavy to carry around the store while picking out the other few things they needed, so they had asked the clerk at the information counter if they could leave them there.

Which led them to now, with him looking for something that could satisfy his growing need for some music. It was a little ridiculous how quickly he had found something that captured his interest, but after thinking about it, he had realised that even back in the hospital he had favoured rhythm-based games or those that had nice background music in them.

So he had found himself parting ways with his parents, who said they wanted to go and check out the movies on the other end of the store. Clifford was keen on finding something small, perhaps able to fit on top of the shelf above his desk, and as he looked through the aisle, he figured he would prefer something with different features, like most stereos had. After a bit of looking, he was about to pick on off the shelf and go back to meet up with his family, when suddenly, a blur of black and blond rushed down his aisle.

“Cliff. C-cliff, I have to ask you something.” The semi-blonde whispered. He was out of breath and kept looking around frantically. He looked terrified.

“What? Will, are you alright? What happ-”

“Can you- Do you hear voices?” his twin asked and took him by the shoulders.

“…Yes, I can hear you, can you hear me?”

“That’s NOT. What I meant.” He looked as if he was either about to vomit or start crying.  
Clifford thought about it for a second. He had assumed he was the only one to remember things, since Will had not spoken to him about it before. And so far, all of the memories that had come back to him had just been sounds and voices.

“….I think I do.”

“Oh thank god.” Will sagged against him. Unsure what to do, Clifford lifted his arms and held his panting twin.

“What happened?” he repeated his earlier question. Will had been normal before parting ways with them to go over to the video games.

“I-…. Think I saw something? And I heard screaming and I just. I got spooked. I don’t know what’s going on, I keep hearing a voice and I thought it was just my subconscious, but it just screamed at me and… I don’t know what to do anymore.” His shoulders shook and he buried his face in Clifford’s shoulder.

“I thought they were memories. Just. Without visuals, you know?” he tried to explain to his panicked twin.

“Memories, huh? Sounds better than being crazy.”

“Is that why you didn’t talk about it sooner?”

“Well, the people on TV always get locked away for hearing voices, so… yeah.”

“Do you…remember what you saw that freaked you out so much?”

“I think it was one of the games they had?” Will took a deep breath. “I don’t know, I barely got a look at it and suddenly….there was someone yelling at me and there was screaming and…I don’t know.” He sighed.

“Okay, how about this.” Clifford held him by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. It didn’t look like he had cried, but his eye was still red and brimming with unshed tears. “We go over there, and you show me the place where it happened. We can figure this out, right? If we can just find out what we are remembering, we can stop worrying about it so much.”

“Right.” Will squared his shoulders. “But… please don’t tell them?”

“Hm?”

“Our parents.” He hunched his shoulders a bit. “I don’t want them to worry…and. Get their hopes up.”

“What do you mean?”

“What if we don’t remember? Or we remember the wrong things? Or maybe we’re just recalling some dream we had or something that happened at the edge of our consciousness while we were in the coma? And…” he averted his eyes. “What if we’re not even remembering? What if we actually are insane?”

“….I don’t agree with you. But,” Clifford tacked on as he saw his twins features twist into a worried and betrayed look. “I respect your opinion, so I won’t tell.” He smiled in hopes to invoke a positive reaction from the semi-blonde.

Will looked at him and smiled back. Not a grin or a smirk, but a genuine smile. It was small and brittle, but it was real. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”

“Alright, just one moment.” Clifford went to grab an orange stereo he had been eying earlier and followed his brother to the video game aisle.

When they arrived at the spot where Will had ‘seen something’, right at the end of the PC-games and at the start of the section that held additional equipment for a gaming system, it became apparent what had him acting so out of it pretty quickly. Just after arriving, his eye settled on a sticker cover for the gaming system and its controllers, which depicted swirls of blue flames licking over a dark black background.

It was unsettling for Clifford as well.

“I know what you mean. It doesn’t look like it’s something good.”

“You know what? It’s easier to look at with someone else. It’s still scary for whatever reason, but….not so much.”

“Was there a fire at the accident? Maybe we don’t like fire because of that?”

“Maybe? I don’t know, we could ask our therapists on Wednesday.”

Even though they had been released from the hospital, they still had to go to therapy once a week and go to rehab twice a week to keep building up their strength. It was good to have a neutral party to talk to, even more so now that he had found out a few things about himself that he didn’t really want to share with anyone, but that still confused him.

“Good idea.” Clifford turned Will away from the unsettling image and steered him back over to the PC-games. “Now, you wanted to get some games, right?”

“Oh, yeah.” He darted one last look at the stickers before going over the different games and picking out two that he found interesting.

Once they were done, they headed on over to their parents. By now, Will had calmed down enough that his eye had returned to normal and didn’t look like he might burst into tears at any moment.  
“Hey, boys, did you get what you wanted?” Annie held out her basket, which now held not only the CD from earlier, but two more movies as well. Will put in his games, while Clifford kept holding onto his stereo. It was a bit big for the basket after all.

“Looks good, but don’t you want some CD’s to listen to a well?” Sam asked after checking out the stereo.

“I would just like to listen to the radio for now. I don’t want to buy something without knowing what I like.”

“Wise decision.” Sam nodded with an impressed look. “”Now, let’s go pick up your laptops, hm?”  
On their way to the exit, Will suddenly asked about their old friends. They were, after all, complete strangers now. And even though the twins didn’t remember them, they were still friends at one point, so they must know the children that were Will and Cliff.

“Well, they were your best friends in elementary school, that’s for sure.” Sam began as they picked up their computers from the information counter. “They weren’t your first friends, I believe those were these twins from kindergarten, right?”

Annie nodded. “They had such unique names too, I just can’t quite recall, something with ‘M’…”

“Mark? Max? Something like that?” Sam offered.

“No, no, something different.” She sighed and shrugged. “Oh well.”

As they got into one of the shorter lines at the cash registers, Sam moved on. “Cordelia and Will got along right away. Both of you were hard to handle for the teachers, you kept running away on trips and even left the school grounds several times during recess. Clifford had a few problems in his first few weeks, a couple of kids had started teasing him for his name, so he had started to hide during recess, which is how he met Dennis, who did the same since he was lost in thought often and many of the kids were playing tricks on him while he was distracted.”

“You once told me that he knew amazing hiding spots.” Annie smiled before turning to the cashier and paying.

“And one day, you asked for a book to take to school. In first grade!” Sam chuckled. “It turned out, you boys sat together in recess and practised reading, which looked to outsiders like you were second or third graders. And like that, Annie had to search the entire playground the next day to find you. It had the same effect on any bullies, so we were very glad you kids got so inventive with your hiding techniques. And you did improve your reading too, so you were already reading a lot more than Will ever did in first grade.”

“What about me and Cordelia?” Will asked on their way to the car.

“Oh, you two.” Annie laughed. “You were a nightmare for teachers. There was a playground in the schoolyard of course, but right next to the school, behind a fence, there was a bigger one with better equipment. There was apparently a door there that was unlocked on some days so the students could go play over there, but mostly it was locked.”

They put away their purchases into the trunk of their car.

“But you two found the hole in the fence.” Sam grinned. “And it took the teachers two months to figure out why you were always gone the moment recess started. You came back in time for class, so they didn’t worry at first, but one day another kid saw you go through the fence and told the teachers. They tried to get you in trouble with us for it, but instead-”

He broke off to get into the car. Annie picked up for him after they all got settled in.

“-we turned on them and blamed them for not securing the schoolyard properly.” Annie smiled. “I mean, it’s their job. We, as parents, may be able to teach our kids how to behave at home and –to an extent- how to behave at school, but we are not the ones setting and enforcing the rules for their time there. That’s on the teachers.”

“They had to get someone to fix up the hole, and you got away with only the scolding you got initially from the teacher that caught you.”

“The teachers seem like they weren’t the best.” Clifford noted. The way their parents talked made it seem like the teachers were incompetent.

“In some things, they really were…” Sam sighed.

“Like one time, when we were told that Will had tripped another kid coming out of one room, so that the boy fell face first into the girl's toilet.” She sighed. “There were a few things wrong with that story. For one, you didn’t trip the kid, he fell while you were walking past. Secondly, the girl's bathroom was not anywhere near the room the kid had come out of, and lastly, their so-called witnesses were the same children who bullied Cliff, which of course made it look like you were taking revenge for your brother to the teachers.”

“In reality, you had just walked past them and a kid tripped by himself, hit his nose on the door of the boy’s bathroom, which was actually right across the room he had walked out of, not like the girl's bathroom, which was further down the hall-” Sam was interrupted in his rant by his wife.

“And then he started crying. A teacher came to see what had happened, and the usual bullies didn’t want to be blamed for an accident, so they pointed fingers at you before they were the ones blamed.”

“Woah.” Will frowned. “Can you tell us more?”

“Oh dear. What else is there?” Sam hummed thoughtfully.

“How about the thing with the ‘your child tied another one to a tree and punched him in the loins!’” Annie pitched her voice into one sounding like a scandalized secretary.

“What?!” Will exclaimed. “What happened?”

“Oh, this one is fantastic!” Sam laughed. “So one day, I’m at home in my office, doing work as usual, when the phone rings. I go over and answer: ‘Hello, Sam Taylor speaking’ and the lady on the other end goes off immediately.”

Annie took over in her high pitched secretary voice. “’Sir, I need you to pick up your children as soon as possible. Your son has tied another boy to a tree and then punched him ….in the loins.’ Sam did say she did that pause there.” She giggled.

“And I was trying so hard not to laugh. Because there was still another kid hurt, so I went on to say: ‘Alright, I’ll come over to pick Will up.’ Because he was the only one of you who played regularly with others. But the lady said ‘No. It was Clifford.’. And that’s when I lost it.”

“Because we knew that you only ‘played’ with Dennis, and never would have gotten the idea to tie him to a tree and punch him.” Annie added

“So I went over to check out the situation. It took me….what, two hours? Two hours to get the full story from you, because Clifford had never been to the principal and was terrified, so he didn’t say a word, and Will had apparently not seen what had happened.”

“Well, what happened?” Clifford asked as well, curious about the rest of the story.

“It turned out like this: Will and Cordelia, along with three other boys, had been playing pirate and convinced you and Dennis to join them. You had been content just reading and talking to ‘the crew’ every once in a while, but at one point, that one boy had to walk the plank. So Will convinced you to help tie him to a tree.”

“You handed off your book to another boy and while you helped, he started to read it. Then he asked you what it was about and you started explaining.”

“We actually noticed this, but did you see what Will and Annie do when they talk?” Sam smiled as he drove down a more beaten up street.

“What?” Clifford looked at the two in question.

“They gesture like crazy. They speak just as much with their hand as with their mouths. You did too, back then.”

“Oh.” He got it.

“Yep. Hit that kid right in the stomach.”

“The stomach mind you.” Annie added. “They got it wrong again, they thought you punched him in the -” she cut herself off.

“Come on, their 17, dear.” Sam suddenly stopped driving and parked at the side of the road. “They thought you punched them in the balls, even though you hit his stomach, which is still not great, but not as bad.”

“Wait, what are we doing here?” Clifford was interested in the story, but he still wanted to know why they were stopping in this part of the town. It wasn’t particularly bad, but it wasn’t as nice looking as the ones they’d been to so far. I was a residential area with many small and cheap looking apartments and the road was dirtier and more neglected.

“The ice cream parlour is over there.” Sam pointed across the street.

Indeed, there was a small area with an umbrella and two tables, as well as a counter where a woman could be seen running around inside and fixing things up.

“It doesn’t look like much, but they have some of the best espressos. Also, they’re from Germany and they use really amazing designs for their ice cream.”

“Designs?” Will raised a brow at him as they were crossing the street. It was really empty, there were even a few kids playing in the street.

“Like your dad’s favourite.” Annie grinned. “Spaghetti-ice.”

“Frozen spaghetti?” Clifford asked, which made Sam laugh loudly as they entered.

“In a way?” he responded vaguely before a waitress came up to them.

“Hello! Long time no see!” she greeted enthusiastically. Seemed like their parents were regulars.

“And who are you bringing along?”

“These are our kids.” Sam grinned proudly.

“Oh really! I am so happy for you, you look great too.” She looked the boys over. “I’m so glad you’re healthy.”

“Um, thank you?” Clifford offered. Did they know her as well?

“Anyways, would you like the usual?” She turned to the register that was sitting on the counter next to her.

“Yes, please to espresso, and …what would you like to drink?” Sam asked the boys.

“A Pitt Cola.” Will shot out immediately. Not very surprising, since he had loved it at the trampoline park yesterday.

“Just water, please.”

The waitress typed in their order and told them to go take a seat. After they had picked a table and settled down, Clifford asked his parents if they knew her.

“She is the owner.” Sam explained. “We’ve been coming here often for the past five years, and…. Sometimes we weren’t in the best mood.” He shrugged. “That’s what the ice cream and coffee are for. Anyways, we chat a lot, as you observed earlier, this isn’t a very big place near a popular street or anything like that, so it’s a bit of a secret tip for locals, and they are rarely so busy that one of them doesn’t have a bit of time to chat. It’s just the owner today, but sometimes her husband and daughter are here to help out as well.”

“Perhaps they’ll come n later, it is a warm Sunday after all. They just opened at noon, so no wonder it’s a bit empty right now.”

As they went through the menus, Clifford thought about the stories from before.

“I don’t gesture anymore, right? I barely noticed, but I thought that was because I’m the quieter one of us anyways.”

“Hm? Oh, right.” Sam shook his head. “The story. Yeah, you were quieter afterward. You were convinced you would get someone hurt if you kept waving your arms about like that. You only really let that show when you were mad after that. And then you would really freak people out, at one point a mother asked Annie if you were having a seizure.”

“I had to walk out of there so I wouldn’t punch that woman.” Annie glared a hole in her menu before closing it. “I’ll just get my usual.”

“What is it?” Will asked.

“A Stracciatella Cup with chocolate instead of stracciatella ice cream.”

“….Isn’t that kind of a Chocolate Cup?” Will asked.

“Nope. There are extra chocolate bits in the Stracciatella Cup and also there is chocolate sauce and some vanilla ice cream in there. The Chocolate Cup is just chocolate ice cream with some nuts and whipped cream, without chocolate bits and sauce.”

“So, why don’t you order a Chocolate Cup with those?”

“Because I don’t like the nuts.” She grinned. “And they are really great with extra wishes, you know. Really accommodating.”

“I’m getting a Spaghettieis without whipped cream.” Sam, who hadn’t touched his menu at all said.

“What is that anyway?” Clifford asked and looked through the menu. There were loads of big cups with many exotic looking designs in there, but he did stumble upon the one he was looking for just as his dad started to describe.

“It’s vanilla ice cream that has been pressed into the shape of spaghetti, with some strawberry sauce on top to simulate the tomato sauce and white chocolate shavings as parmesan cheese. Usually, there is whipped cream underneath, but… I don’t like whipped cream in large quantities.”

“I think I’ll try that as well, but with the whipped cream.” Clifford said and put down his menu as well.

“I’m taking these!” Will turned his menu and pointed at something that looked more like a pastry covered in whipped cream.

“Oh, these are great.” Sam exclaimed. “They are waffle rolls filled up with vanilla ice cream. And you know what? Their inside is covered in chocolate.”

Just then, the owner came over to them with their drinks and took their orders. Pretty soon, they were sipping on their drinks as they waited.

“Thank you for telling us these stories.” Clifford said suddenly. “I know that we are essentially the same children we were before the accident, but I never quite feel a connection to the kid that was ‘Cliff’.” He stressed the nickname he had preferred as a kid. “But, even if they don’t actually make me remember, I can kind of picture the stories you tell, so I feel more like Cliff and Clifford are the same person.”

“I agree,” Will added, “it’s really kind of stabilizing to know about your past, even if you don’t really know it.”

“I wanted to ask you to tell us any stories you remember, please? I’ve seen you with that faraway look a lot, and I want to know what you remember.” Clifford explained to their parents. Both had tears in their eyes, but smiles on their faces.

“Right now, I remember so many things at once, and nothing at all.” Annie sighed. “I remember your personality and moments of your life, but rarely big stories like we tell you. But- we will try. To tell you everything we recall.”

“How about Paris?” Sam offered.

“Paris?” Willa parroted.

“Oh yes, that was the last vacation… we had before the accident.” Clifford could see it was still hard for his mom to talk about it, but it came easier than in the first month or so after they had woken up. “We were flying with you for the first time, and Will got really fussy during take-off. We managed to distract you two with the view, but it was still hard.”

“And man, once we were in France. Wow.” Sam chuckled. “Will… transformed in a way. He would climb on statues to examine and understand them, he suggested going to the Picasso museum, where he raced through it in half the time it took the rest of us, and could later detail more paintings to us then I can remember now.”

“So, I liked art back then too?”

“You always liked drawing before, but only after you had physically powered yourself out enough to sit still for more than a minute.” Annie smiled. “And in Paris, you just…blossomed. So much. We bought you pencils there, and I think they are still nearly unused since… well, it did happen that winter. You didn’t have much of a chance to use them.”

“We had gotten each of you a camera when you were just one or two years old.”

“That was when they were one, remember? Carla said it was a nice idea to give a toy camera for the first birthday.” Annie giggled.

“Oh yeah!” Sam laughed.

“Carla was your mom, right dad?” Clifford asked.

“Yep. Anyways, she didn’t get it, because what we gave you were actually single-lens reflex cameras, in a colourful but tough casing, so that children could handle them. Even so, most people assumed we didn’t spend the money to actually put films in there.”

“But you did?” Will asked.

“We did. And the results were always impressive.” Sam paused and gestured at them to make a bit of room on the table, since the owner had come over with their ice cream. After they had eaten a little, he picked the story back up.

“Because children know what cameras are for. Mom and Dad use them to take photos of important things. And so you went and made ‘important photos’, like: Mom, Dad, your toys, your amazing socks, the weird looking smudge on the mirror, things like that. Things that you thought to be important.”

“I remember that one picture of our t-shirts,” Annie put her spoon down for a bit. “We wore these printed t-shirts with some fierce, punk-rock looking monsters from The Looney Tunes, which we thought were really cool. But…”

“Once we saw them from your perspective, they looked terrifying. You never seemed bothered, but we were really worried that we had traumatized you at some point with those shirts. They just looked funny to us before.”

“Anyway, back in Paris.” Their mom pulled them back to the former subject.

“Oh yes. Beautiful photos. It’s really hard to describe, we should look through them at one point. You” he pointed his spoon at Will. “Went and made photos of every statue and anything that was even remotely art. From the street lights to the architecture, you got everything. We couldn’t walk down a street without stopping at least three times. And Clifford made so many pictures of the parks and the animals, it was a really beautiful combination.”

They kept the conversation going for the most of their stay, and once they had finished their ice cream, which had been delicious in Clifford’s opinion, Sam went to pay and they bid goodbye to the owner of the parlour, who snuck each of the twins one of the waffles that go on top of some of the ice cream cups.

They arrived home at about 3 PM, and went to put away their new things. Willard came to bother Clifford after putting away his games into one of the drawers of his desks, and was now lounging on his bed as he tried to figure out how to get the stereo on the shelf on top of his table without putting it too close to the spiky plant on top. Putting it down on his workspace seemed a little crowded, but there was never enough room that would make him confident that he wouldn’t prick his fingers sooner or later.

“This thing giving you trouble?”

The solution to his problem came in the shape of his brother reading the label of the plant and then promptly stealing it. More or less.

“I’m taking it. Now you have space.”

“That thing is going to get as big as the other one over there, you know? Sure you can handle the spikes?”

“Sure, they give it personality.”

“Okay, you can have it.” He placed his new stereo on top of his desk and plugged it in, just as Will left his room with Clifford’s Norfolk Island pine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While writing this I found out that apparently, 'Spaghettieis' has it's own Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghettieis  
> Just in case anyone was interested xD
> 
> See you next Sunday!
> 
> EDIT: omg, just noticed the whole thing wasn't edited properly, it was all just one block O.O  
> just lemme fix that real quick


	9. Friends, Fire, Colours and Cubes

Their parents had brought them over to their next-door neighbours before returning home to set up their laptops for them. Bridget and Fionn, Cordelia’s parents, had greeted them with large smiles and bear hugs before calling Cordelia who immediately pulled them through their living room out into the garden. Theirs looked much less abandoned then their own, but a little too…empty in Clifford’s opinion. It was just grass and one tree in the back. A brown haired boy about their age was sitting under it, legs drawn up to his chest and playing with his phone. He looked like he was about to become one with the tree. Or something like that.

‘That must be-’

“DENNIS! Look who’s here!” Cordelia shouted as they walked over.

Dennis startled and looked up from his phone. “Deli! What- Oh my god.” He stood up quickly and put his phone back in his pocket. “Are you?” he looked to Cordelia “They are-?”

“The new and improved.”

Suddenly, Dennis all but jumped at Clifford and threw his arms around him.

“Oh my fucking god, it’s so good to see you!” he pushed away from the taller boy and looked him over. “How are you two still so tall?” he suddenly frowned and looked at Will before looking back at him. “You…are Cliff, right? I don’t think you would have been the one to do…al that” he gestured to Wills' hair.

“I- well, I am, but I prefer Clifford.”

“Really? I never would have guessed after all that shit Richie pulled.”

“Um.” Clifford was very confused. But before he could say something, Cordelia cut in.

“Erm, Okay, so I’m sorry I jumped this on you, but there’s more.”

“Really Deli?! You fucking knew they were awake an-”

“Since yesterday! And they don’t remember!” the girl interrupted him.

“What?” Dennis seemed confused.

“They got amnesia or some shit, so it’s our jobs now to help them fix it.”

“What?” Now, Will seemed confused too.

“Yep! Surprise! We’re gonna get you to remember things!” she proclaimed. “Now sit your butts down and we’ll get right into it.” She pulled a bag from behind the tree and pulled out four notebooks and four pencils.

“So, this is the idea,” she started once they had all joined her on the ground. “We’re going through everything you to recall and then we’ll help you remember everything that you don’t.”

“Everything.” Will grumbled.

“Hm?”

“We don’t remember anything from before waking up in the hospital.” Clifford explained.

“Wait, I thought…” Cordelia looked lost and very worried all of a sudden. “Nothing? It’s all gone?”

“What did you think?” Will pulled up his knees to his chest and placed his chin on top.

“That… it would only be a couple of things- like friends and family or something like that. I even read up on the topic a little yesterday and… retrograde amnesia isn’t supposed to work that way. You should be able to remember some things or at least know them, even without the memories.”

“Okay, let me rephrase that.” Clifford thought for a second. “We have no actual memories of anything, but we do know how to read, write, do math and all that stuff.”

“Well, that’s a start, right?” Dennis offered a half smile and took one of the notebooks and pencils from Cordelia. “What do you have in mind?”

“Let me think for a second…. Since we kinda don’t know each other anymore… Let’s reintroduce ourselves!” she proposed.

“That would be great, thank you.” Clifford nodded.

“Okay, Dennis, you wanna start?”

“Um, alright? So, my name is Dennis Smith, I’m 17 years old and… well, we met in elementary school.”

“Our parents told us we used to hide behind books?” Clifford asked. The grin he got from Dennis was the biggest one he had seen from him so far.

“That was my idea! My big brother was always doing that and everyone left him alone, so I figured it would work for us as well.”

“You have a big brother?”

“His name is Johnny, he’s moved out to college.”

“Hobbies?” Cordelia poked him.

“Reading, Chemistry is great and I really like German a lot. Your dad actually helped me study a couple of times.” He smiled.

“He helped me with French as well.” Cordelia added with a grin

“It’s always so weird when he talks in different languages.” Will grinned. “Can you say something?”

“Honhon, baguette.” Dennis said in a mock French accent before Cordelia punched him in the shoulder.

“Tu ne parlez pas Français, je parle Français. Va -erm… manger une pomme de terre.” She made a brush-off motion in his direction.

“Ich verstehe dich nicht. Entschuldigung, Frau MacWordply.”

„You two are weird and I love you already.“ Will said with a shake of his head.

“Is that actually your last name, Cordelia?” Clifford asked the redhead.

“Yep, my full name is Cordelia Aiden MacWordply. I just prefer Deli though, or Cordy, that’s what you used to call me.” She made a finger gun at Will. “I was Cordy to you two, Deli to Dennis and you two were Cliff-nerd and Willy-Billy to me.”

“And I was just Dennis.” The boy sighed.

“Would you rather have been-”

“DON’T!” Dennis clapped a hand over her mouth. Then promptly ripped it off and wiped it on her pants after she licked it.

“BOBBY!” she yelled at him and he buried his face in his hands.

“I despise you.”

“What’s so bad about that?” Clifford asked.

“It’s his second name.”

“Why do you all have second names?” Will mumbled as Dennis began to rant.

“My full name is Dennis Bobby Smith.” He let the last two parts of his name drip from his lips like poison. “What is plainer? That just screams ‘Come bully this weak, plain nobody!’. And- and then there’s all of you with your fancy names and then coolest name I could be called was Dennis. You can’t make something cool out of Dennis Fucking Bobby Smith! If it wasn’t for Cordelia and back then Will standing up for me, I would have been off worse, sure, but as we saw, life doesn’t let you stick with your pals forever. Life goes ‘fuck you, let me just take your best friend away’.” He took a deep breath. “And then you can move over and go sit with the other nerds because your old group of friends has lost half it’s members and the link that connected you to the other cool kid there. Because I didn’t know Cordelia back then, I just knew Cliff, and kinda Will, ‘cause he’s your bro, but Cordelia was just another cool kid I would never be able to play with on my own.”

He finished and grabbed a water bottle that was sitting next to him to take a few large sips. Cordelia began to clap with an impressed face.

“Now that was amazing. Great introduction.”

“Go suck a dick.” Dennis grumbled.

“No thanks. So, what happened after the accident? Dennis basically just told you what he did, I just went on with my life after getting rid of the crutches and kinda forgot him before he was in my class in junior high, and since then we’ve been hanging out again.”

“Crutches?” Will tilted his head.

“Oh right, I broke both my legs in the accident. It’s kinda lucky you were next to us.” She smiled wryly and spoke in a more serious tone of voice. “ They always said: ‘The back got hit the hardest’, but the truth was, it was mostly you two. Us kids in the back did get injured sure, but we were all out of the hospital within the month. Only one or two of us were injured bad enough that they had to miss Christmas.”

“I hit my head, but only got a slight concussion. Deli is really downplaying it, she was sitting in the middle of the back row, you know? The seat that is open to the corridor in the middle? She- I saw her fly about two meters before my forehead hit the seat in front of me, it was horrifying.” He shook his head with a frown.

“The whole class did therapy together for weeks after and some kept going for months. The two of us still go.” She shrugged. “I didn’t see much, but Dennis didn’t lose consciousness, so he saw what happened to you two.”

“Your eye is gone, right?” Dennis' voice wavered as he addressed Will.

He nodded solemnly and lifted his hand to brush away his hair, stopping when he saw Dennis cover his eyes and making a retching sound.

“We’re outside,” Cordelia said quickly “If you have to, you can just do it, we can go sit elsewhere.”

After a moment the boy took a deep breath and shook his head. “…’s fine.” He mumbled, “Is it bad?”

“I don’t think so.” Will shrugged.

“Deli?”

“Show me.” She asked Will. He pulled his hair back and she whistled. For a second he looked unsure, but then she smiled. “It’s gorgeous.”

“Seriously?” Dennis peeked out. “Woah.” He lowered his hands completely from his face. “It sure fucking is. It actually works really well. Why yellow?”

“I actually don’t know?” Will shrugged. “I was in a weird mindset after just waking up. My brain was kinda yelling at me to get this colour and protest all else.”

“Sorta odd, since your favorite colour used to be blue.” Cordelia stretched out.

Clifford felt Will tense and recalled their earlier run-in with that colour.

“I don’t think it is now.” Wills' voice shook a little.

“Wait. You were awake after the accident?” Clifford looked at Dennis. “Was there a fire?”

“Um. No. It was freezing when we got out of the bus, and I remember hoping -in that weird kid kinda way- that there was a fire so we could get warm.”

“Then why…” Will looked down at the notebooks lying in the grass before picking one up and starting to doodle. “Earlier today, I saw some stickers or something with blue flames on them. They really freaked me out and when me and Cliff when back, they weren’t as scary, but they unsettled him too. We thought there was a fire back then, and that we were actually remembering something, but now we’re just scared of fire for no reason?”

“You aren’t.” Cordelia said.

“Why are you saying that? How would you know?” Will asked, agitated.

“What was playing on the TV when we went through the living room?”

Will shrugged.

“A person who is scared of fire, even in the form of stickers –as you said- would have noticed the news showing that big forest fire a while ago.”

Clifford tensed. “Now this is making me nervous. What you just said about…forest fires, not about us not noticing, although that is a bit strange too.”

Will threw up his arms. “So what, are we scared of blue now? I have bought clothes in blue, I am wearing blue jeans right now!”

“This is a start.” Dennis said, suddenly excited. “You are unconsciously trying to remember something, your subconscious is warning you away from something! We can try to figure out what it is!”

“Great idea, how do we do it?” Will said sarcastically.

“Colour interpretation!”

“What?” Clifford frowned and saw his brother roll his eye.

“Write it down, so you don’t feel like you have to change your answer to suit ours. Best to write down the first thing that comes to mind without thinking too hard about it.” Dennis handed Clifford the last notebook. “We’ll go through primary and secondary colours, and after that, we could go inside to find certain shades of colour.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” The older of the twins asked him.

“Write down the colours and then what they remind you of, or how you feel when thinking of them.” he explained

“Oh, by the way,” Cordelia started “primary colours are red-”

“blue and yellow, secondary are purple, green, orange.” Will finished as he wrote them down.

“….Um, I can't quite recall, but...is that second-grade knowledge?” Cordelia’s brows pulled together in thought.

“Even if it isn’t, apparently we have strange new connections in our synapses that make us know more than ‘normal people’.” Will explained.

“Weird. But okay.” Cordelia started writing as well.

There was a while of silence as they all wrote down their thoughts on colours. Somewhere in between, Dennis suggested putting in Black and White as well, and soon they were going through each colour and discussing their thoughts. Red felt kinda like home to Clifford, and he couldn’t find a better word for it than ‘home-ish’, while Will clearly stated that it was ‘Anger’. Dennis opinion was that is was ‘Love’ and Cordelia put down ‘Power’. Blue caused ‘Mixed Feelings’ for Will, which he described to be both frightening and thrilling. Clifford had tried to not think about it as much as the first one, since it seemed to get harder to find a word the longer he thought about it and this time wrote down ‘Evil/Death’. Cordelia thought of the sky and the ocean, and Dennis jotted down ‘Melancholy’. Yellow was more positive, Cordelia put down ‘spiky’ for some reason, and Dennis said it was ‘Joy’. Will wrote down that it was a good stylish colour and Clifford found ‘fields’ on his page.

Orange turned out to be what Clifford labelled ‘That is home’, even though Will had written ‘Red’

“No, dude, Orange.” Cordelia giggled

“I don’t know what my brain did there, I think it was like: Cordy’s hair is orange, but it’s called a redhead, sooo ‘Red’….I guess?” he shrugged.

“What about you Dennis?” she asked.

“I put down ‘Fire’.”

“I have ‘Pumpkin’.”

“Pumpkin?” Will asked.

“I’m excited for Halloween.” She shrugged.

“It’s summer!”

“So what?” She grumbled. “Next year I’ll just ask if I can come along with Baby-Bel.” She pouted.

“Anyways!” Dennis tapped the notebook before they could get off topic. “What about Green? Twins go first.”

“Frog.”

Will broke into laughter. “Why a frog?!”

“I don’t know, it just came to mind, what have you got?”

“…a dollar.”

“See. No room to judge.”

“And here I come with my kindness, and Dennis with his” she peeked at his notebook “….nature. Man, this is getting funny.” She giggled. “I have ‘Poison’ for purple.”

“Same here, actually.” Dennis showed her his notebook.

“I put down ‘sweater’. Don’t ask me why.” Will shook his head, seemingly disbelieving of what he wrote down.

“Nah, I get it, a girl in my grade wears a lot of those. Holy shit, I completely forgot, are you gonna be in our school? In our grade? Or do you have to repeat elementary school?”

“We’ll see.” Clifford sighed. “We’re gonna get home-schooled during summer break, and then we’ll be put wherever it’s best….Also, I actually couldn’t think of something for purple.”

“Nah, that’s okay. I hope you get into our class though, that would be the best. What about Black and White?” she asked

“Black is ‘Loneliness’ and White is ‘blank sheet’ I wrote down ‘like memory’ as well, but… that sound somehow sad.” He shrugged.

“Because it is.” Dennis nodded. “What about you Will?”

“Well, I think Black is great, White is more unsettling to me. I don’t know, it just seems like something is off.”

“I put both together and made a chess board.” Cordelia said before squealing as Dennis began slapping her repeatedly with his notebook.

“You. Were. Supposed. To. Take. This. Seriously!”

“Stop! Stop!” she laughed. “Fine, White is Snow and Black is Death!”

“Dark, but that’s a start. I put have ‘death’ for white actually, and Black is ‘Cold’.”

“Why that?” Will asked him.

“You spent the last ten years in a hospital near death, you tell me.”

“Ah.”

There was a short moment of silence.

“So?” Will prompted. “What does this all tell us?”

“…..” It didn’t look like Dennis actually knew. “That Clifford doesn’t like Black, and maybe also darkness?”

Clifford nodded to confirm this.

“Also, he would be very happy once autumn comes, since all the colours he likes are all these autumn colours: red, orange and yellow. Both of you dislike Blue to some extent, though I would love to figure out why Clifford associates it with Death. Will may be unsettled by white for the same reason I am, perhaps?”

“I didn’t really feel that way in the hospital.”

“Okay, so it may come from something else, what about…” he looked over the semi-blonde’s notes. “…Actually, you have so many plain answers, the only interesting ones are your red anger and purple sweaters. What’s up with that? I mean anger and red are easy to associate, but the sweaters?”

“I’m trying to remember if she wore them in elementary school too, but I think she went to the other one…” Cordelia hummed.

“Who?” Will asked.

“Maby, she’s a classmate of ours.” Dennis explained.

“I call her Baby-Bel, cause she’s adorable and sweet like a baby!” Cordelia giggled. “Also, she had a phase where she loved to eat Babybels, you know, the little cheese-thingies?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Will’s face was scrunched up in a confused sort of way.

“Meh, I never liked them anyhow.” She suddenly snapped her fingers. “I have another idea! This one will definitely do something, It works directly with your subconscious.”

“Erm, okay?” Clifford put down his block.

“No, no, we need that! Okay, so, first of all, imagine an empty place-”

“Oh god.” Dennis groaned. “Of fucking course.“ he flopped on his back.

“What is it?” Clifford’s eyes darted from the boy to Cordelia and back.

“It’s a game that grants a little insight into someone’s personality and subconscious.”

“How do you play?”

“You tell us what you’re thinking of. First of all, imagine an empty landscape. It can be a desert or an ocean or just empty space, the important thing is that it has a sort of ground level. Don’t think too hard about it, this is just the setting. It would be great if you wrote it down as well, for later.”

She waited for a moment as the boys wrote.

“Should we tell you what we’re thinking of now? Or do wait until the end?” Will asked.

“You should tell us right away.”

“At first I thought of a forest, like a greyscale forest, but it’s supposed to be empty, right?”

“Meh, trees are fine.”

“Mine is a forest too.” Clifford shared a look with his twin. “Not greyscale, more like a forest at night.”

“Mm-hm, alright.” The redhead nodded before carrying on. “Now, in this forest, there is also a cube. Where is it, is it big or small? What is it made of and what colour is it?”

After thinking about it for a second, Clifford closed his eyes to help with the image along a bit.

“It’s made out of wood, very big and it has a dark colour.” He described.

“Mine is made of dark red brick, like really dark, nearly black. And it’s about the size of a house. Can it be a house? Though, now I’m picturing more of a castle. Nevermind, let’s just say it’s big, alright? Oh, and it’s floating over the trees!”

“It’s made of brick.” Clifford shook his head at his brother.

“So? It’s allowed, right?” he asked Cordelia, who nodded with a grin.

“It is. Is that all?” After the boys nodded, she added the next part. “There appears to be a ladder there as well. Where is it? How far away is it from the cube, and what is it made of?”

Clifford started again. “It’s an old wooden ladder. A small one, those that only go up one or two steps and that stands on its own.”

“A step stool?”

“Yeah, one of those. It’s a quite a bit away from the cube and it’s covered in cobwebs like someone just left it in the forest.”

“Woah, thanks.” Dennis grumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing.” His friend brushed him off. “What about you Will?”

“I think there are kinda two ladders? Well, it broke in half I guess. One half is lying left of the cube, the other lies on the right, both are on the ground, so they’re far away from the cube.”

“Okay, next: In the forest, there is a horse.”

“A horse?”

“Yes a horse, you can choose whether it’s a mare or a stallion, where it is in relation to cube and ladder, what colours and behaviour it has, those kind of things. What’s it doing, too.”

Both boys were silent for a while, then Will spoke up.

“Can I start this time?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“My horse is a brown and white stallion, and it’s very curious, but also easy to spook, so he’s checking out one of the ladder pieces right now, he didn’t really notice the cube floating above his head.”

“I’m thinking of a stallion as well, he’s completely brown with a reddish mane. He’s very shy, so he’s even further away from the cube than the ladder, but not very far from the ladder.”

“Good, last one is flowers. You can decide if you even want any in the picture, if not, you don’t have to put them in.”

“They already have a place,” Cliff smiled. “There are a couple of them near the cube.”

“Can I not have any flowers?” Will asked.

“Sure. Is that all?”

The boys nodded once more.

“Great. Now keep all of it in mind, the cube, the ladder, the horse, the flowers. Because there is a storm coming. What kind of storm is it and how does it affect these things?”

“Snowstorm.” Clifford stated the same moment Will proclaimed: “Random things falling from the sky!”

“Um.” He eyed his twin.

“You can go first. What can an itty bitty boring snowstorm do, anyway?” Will smirked.

“It blows away the cobwebs from the ladder and the wind carries away to crash into the cube. The horse gets spooked and runs off to…somewhere else. He’s just …gone. The cube falls apart after being hit by the ladder and reveals that it was just a big dark box over a smaller, brighter box. Which is still made of wood, but it’s a lot smaller. Also, the ladder landed so it protects the poor flowers from the bigger box parts and the wind.”

Dennis whistled. “This is gonna be fun.”

“Shush with your commentary!” Cordelia throws her pencil at him. “What about you, Will?”

“Well, the cube falls from the sky and crushes one of the ladder halves. The other half, where the horse is, is just fine, but the horse freaks out and runs off.” He paused. “I can’t believe you made more happen in a snowstorm than I did.. um.. maybe a glob of paint falls onto the bricks? I don’t know…”

“Fine, now write that down and I’ll give you the key to the whole mess.” Cordelia waited until she had their attention again. “Ready? The cube…represents yourself. Your ego.”

Dennis giggled as he sat back up. “Floating means you got your head in the clouds. And the bigger the cube, the bigger your ego.”

“Or your self-image. Kinda like that.” Cordelia added. “Then there's the ladder.”

“That’s us!” Dennis exclaimed. “Your dear friends. You gotta love the fact that both your ladders were old or broken in a way, thanks for that.”

Clifford felt his jaw drop. He didn’t really find the time or strength to close it before Cordelia moved on.

“And you know, the distance between us had grown quite a bit, I agree. The next one is the horse.”

“Family?” Will tried to guess.

“Lover.” Cordelia grinned.

“Oh.” Will thought. “Ah. ‘You can choose whether it’s a mare or a stallion’, very cute.”

“Does it bother you?”

“….Nah, not really.” Will shrugged.

“Great.” Grumbled Dennis. “I thought I would gain some guys to talk about girls with, but I suppose I’ll have to stick with Deli.”

“You are..?” Clifford felt kind of odd asking.

“I’m bisexual, Dennis is straight, and you two don’t have to take this too seriously. Your parents are cool with homo, just so you aren’t worried. You do you.”

“Also, sad story you have here, both of them ran away from you.” Dennis added.

“What are the flowers?” the older twin asked.

“Children, the wish for children.” Cordelia explained. “The storm is a representation of problems, by the way.”

The boys looked down at the scenarios they had written down.

“That still doesn’t tell us much.” Clifford suddenly stated apologetically

“But it was fun, right?” the girl grinned. “So, while we were doing that, I came up with another idea.”

“Will it do something?” Will asked and flopped onto his back.

“Possibly. Both of you started off in a forest with your scenario, sooo…” she jabbed a thumb at the back of the garden, where a hedge separated the houses in the street from a forest. “We cut through that to get to Part B, which is our old elementary school. We can go check out old places you were to before to jog your memory.”


	10. Promise?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> I can't believe that with this tenth chapter I already wrote over 48k words! And it's such a great feeling that people like it, so thank you everyone :D  
> I had always thought people exaggerated when they said how great reviews are -(I'm so sorry, I was wrong!)- but holy moly, they were right! 
> 
> I'll stop my mini-rant before you get bored because there is something important I have to say: No update next week. Sorry.  
> I have to finish a paper for uni and I know most readers have seen this a million times (because I have too), but I ran out of my pre-written chapters. Still, I sincerely hope you enjoy this one anyways!
> 
> See you in two weeks!  
> Holly~♥

Dennis packed up the notebooks back into the bag before Cordelia shouldered it and gestured to the other three boys to follow her, before she squeezed herself through the hedge. It went around the entire garden, but it was cut down more on the side where their house was and higher on the side facing the forest, so they had to literally dive into the leaves. Will went in right after his twin, the branches pulling at his shirt and hair and slightly scratching his bare arms. The thing may not have thorns, but he swore it was still trying it’s best to damage him. At one point he even got some leaves into his mouth, which made him sputter as he emerged on the other side. Shortly after, Dennis came out as well, with his face protected by his hands.

Before them, light fell through the leaves of the trees, creating clear lines of sunshine in the dust that floated in the air.

“Wow.” He looked to his twin, who looked absolutely star struck.

“Take a picture if, it might last longer.” Cordy joked.

“It does look nice, though.” Dennis took out his phone to make a picture, a gesture that Cliff copied immediately.

After they had taken their pictures, Cordelia ran to where the ground was not littered with leaves from fall and scooped up a handful of dry earth before scattering it into the breeze. The shutter-noise from Dennis’ phone went off a few more times as she twirled.

“You have to send me those, Dennis!” She told him afterward. “I bet they look amazing.”

“Sure.”

The forest was very quiet, and even though they could hear cars once in a while, they seemed far off. There wasn’t really a path, but it seemed as though Cordy had done this a lot, because there was something like it there. He could even see some rocks and branches scattered around in a way that suggested a path.

‘It’s odd. This feels like it could be…something to me. Cliff seems so relaxed now, he even stopped his squinting.’ He observed his twins’ mannerisms for a minute.

The raven-haired teen was quiet, sure, but he had a lot of tension in him as well, something that was very noticeable now, since it had lightened a lit once they set foot into the forest. On the shade of the trees, he stopped squinting, something he did a lot whenever it was too bright. Will had wondered if he did it too, but he hadn’t really bothered to check for himself.

It was something that confused him greatly, his twins’ relationship with light and darkness. After the first few nights at the hospital, he had woken up in the middle of the night to his twin sitting on his bed and telling him to go back to sleep. The next morning the older boy had told him he had felt like Will had disappeared when he woke up in the darkness of their room. And even though he was clearly frightened of the dark, if it was too bright he squinted and even admitted once that he got a headache from all of the sunlight streaming into their room from the windows. The doctors assured them it was that his eyes were still unused to light after so many years of being closed, and that Will was a little more used to it due to all the operations on his eyes.

It still didn’t feel right to him somehow.

“By the way,” Cordy said as she hopped over a log. “you two kinda already told us what you’re scared of, right? I wanna tell you what scares me, too.”

“Sounds fair, I’ll do that as well.” Dennis agreed.

“So? What is it?” Clifford asked. Will frowned slightly. His voice seemed deeper. Or maybe he was imagining it?

“Well, to be honest, I used to be scared of heights, but after the accident, I sort of realized that heights don’t really do much to you. I’m kinda avoiding fast traffic now. Probably gonna be a while until I get my licence too.” She sighed.

“Really, the accident messed up a lot of our class, but our back row really got it the worst.” Dennis nodded. “I-… What I saw. After the pain in my head subsided. That-… It –it was just… gruesome. I really thought you two… I didn’t believe anyone for months when the told me you survived, because I saw you and you were dead.” He turned to look at Will as they walked. “Especially you! Did they tell you what happened to you?”

Will shrugged. “We basically got hit directly by a truck going about 60 mph and I got a piece of shrapnel stuck in my eye.”

“Then they didn’t tell you everything.” Dennis rubbed his hands over his eyes. “That ‘shrapnel’ was a piece of metal the length of my forearm. Back then, so a seven-year-old’s forearms, but it was gigantic! And it stuck sideways in your head, you even have a scar there, I’m surprised it isn’t more noticeable.”

Will brushed his fingers against the tiny scar at the side of his right eye. It really was rather tiny for what Dennis was telling them.

“And that wasn’t all! Both of you were bleeding, so much- it was everywhere and it didn’t stop… And Will had been sitting next to Deli, who- well, you know, she wasn’t there anymore, and since we got hit from that side, he slumped over towards me and…” Dennis entire body shook once. “I’m pretty sure I got a close-up of your eye, and my screaming is what finally shook the teachers out of their daze and made them do something.” He stumbled over a rock. “You know- you know how teachers always sit at the front? They didn’t even realize where the bus had been hit, and they thought the worst that had happened was Deli, who was now all the way at the front of the bus and wasn’t able to wake up.”

“Really, Afterwards I was surprised at how much of the impact had been absorbed by us in the back row, from what I was told later a few kids in the back had whiplash or concussions, but the front seemed mostly fine, some had really bad bruises and bumps, but…” she picked up a branch to hit a tree with. “They were all fine. Until they saw what happened to _us_ , anywho.”

“After I began screaming, all the kids in the back who were able to stand rushed over to help, which-… well it didn’t really help matters, because now the teachers had to push through half a dozen traumatised and screaming kids.”

A long bout of silence followed their story.

“We weren’t told.” Cliff murmured, twirling an oak leaf in his fingers. Will hadn’t even noticed him bending down to pick it up. “I apologize. For not even asking about the rest of the class. We were told that we were the ones who got hit the hardest, so we- _I_ at least assumed… that the others were fine.”

“Shit happens.” Cordy shrugged. “As a doctor, I probably would have been a little hesitant as well, telling my patients all the trauma _other_ people suffered when you’re still recovering themselves. And especially if there’s memory loss involved. I mean, what good would that info have done you?” She paused. “Actually, how _was_ your hospital stay?”

For the next few minutes, they took turns summarizing their first two months, the only clear memories they had access to, from their waking up, the disorientation and confusion, to the tests looking for answers to their conditions and finally the permission to go home and their long boring shopping trips and the trip to the trampoline park the day before.

“-and then he led me over to his bro, who apparently can’t talk to people.” Will chuckled.

“Don’t be a dick.” Dennis grumbled. “I know how that feels, I have something similar. I hate bothering anyone, so I’m really bothered by asking people for help. Friends are something different, but… things like, calling to make appointments, walking up to clerks in a store to ask for help, hell, some days I even forget how to write a professional e-mail.” The brunette throws his hands up into the air.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to offend you.” Will tried to placate his ….friend? It felt like that’s what they were, anyways.

Clifford chuckled. “Honestly, I would have thought that Cordelia would be more likely to curse than you.”

“It’s just all building up inside him!” Cordy laughed. “He’s awlways so quiet and so powite.” She tried to pinch Dennis’ cheek, but he grabbed her hand and twisted it away from him. It escalated to wrestling and chasing each other through the underbrush as Cordy continued to call him out on his contrasting behaviour. “And he actually took self-defence lessons, but he always chickens out when he should use them, he has a more colourful vocabulary than a drunk sailor and while we’re on that topic, he can drink people twice his size under the table, and if it weren’t for his usual shy bookworm demeanour, people might notice that he actually has a pretty dark humour, I mean the books he reads are some dark shit, he could be the next dark overlord if he ever got over his fears-”

She had to stop there, due to being tackled to the ground and now having her mouth full of leaves and dirt.

“Bleh.”

Dennis, out of breath, was sitting on her back and holding her arms down. “If that is true, then you have just lost to your future overlord.” He grinned.

“Get off of me. Or are you trying something like _that_ here of all places?” Cordy spluttered as she tried to shake off a leaf that stuck on her forehead. Clifford bent down to get it just as Dennis stood up.

“Thaaaanks. I really needed that picture in my head right now.”

Will giggled. “What, you would make such a cute couple, though!”

“Ew. No thanks.” Cordy combed out her messy copper locks. “Also, we’re here.” She pointed over to where the forest lightened up to reveal a playground. There where the usual things, like a seesaw, a slide, some swings, as well as a small carousel and a jungle gym. A few parents were sitting on the benches nearby as their kids ran around the playground or played soccer on the lawn. There was a fence they had to climb over, which encircled about half of the playgrounds perimeters. The other half was bordering on the street and a large building next to the playground.

“That was our schoolyard?” Will asked, surprised.

“Nah.” Cordy chuckled and waved them over to the large building. There was a piece of fence that had a different colour, in the spot where the fence met the building. Not far from the spot, there was also a large iron-barred door with a padlock on it. “Over there is the schoolyard.” The redhead pointed over and started to climb over the fence.

The twins checked if anyone was looking, but the parents minded their own business, so they swiftly followed their friends. “Our parents told us we used to sneak out?” Will asked her.

“Yep.” She pointed at the off-colour fence part. “The hole was over there. The fence never actually connected to the building, so they just planted this really dense bush in front of it. You and I though, we just went right on through.”

The schoolyard was pretty boring by comparison. There was a swing, and some faded hopscotch games drawn on the asphalt, a lone tree in the middle, with some benches around it and a really worn down pavilion of some sort. One side faced the forest, with a large brick wall there instead of the more climbable fence that bordered the playground, the other side faced the street and was currently closed off by a large gate.

“I see why we did that.” Will stated after finishing his observation.

“Boring as hell over here.” Cordy nodded. “I mean sure, some days they let us go over, but mostly they just unlocked the toy van.” She jabbed her thumb towards a literal van without wheels that sat in the corner of the yard and collected rust and dust.

“Is that thing safe?” Clifford raised a brow.

“Probably not.” Dennis shrugged. “They keep the toys in there, rope, some scooters, stilts, chalk, different balls and such.”

“Soo, no sudden recollection of all the amazing things we did here?” Cordy asked with an awkward grin.

Will shook his head.

Clifford didn’t.

“I don’t know yet. I don’t really remember anything, but-…I don’t know. I have a weird feeling?”

“Like what?” Will asked, eager to see if he could at least get his brother to remember things for both of them.

“Like I want to go somewhere?” Clifford began to move around the yard, the three other teens following after him. He seemed indecisive, but in the end, they found themselves in the bushes behind the pavilion. There was a large oak there, with large roots that made for a mildly comfortable, if slightly too low seat.

There was a moment of silence after they had all sat down. Clifford picked up a leaf from the oak tree and added it to the other one he had collected on their way here.

“We used to hide here often.” Dennis broke the silence. “There was a rumour that the old pavilion was evil or haunted or something like that. You know, just stupid kiddie scary stories, but it kept away most of the other kids. Of course, we couldn’t just sit where everyone could see us, so we looked back here. It was sort of a meeting point for the two of us, at least until Deli and Will found it. After that, they would help out by spreading more and more scary stories about this place, and repelled anyone who did try to go back here.”

“Yeah, and it worked out great.” Cordy joined in. The tone of her voice made it sound like there was a catch somewhere. “Until Richie decided we were hiding something. He was this stereotypical big strong bad kid, though I’m pretty sure he just lost the universal lottery and got stuck with shitty parents.” She shrugged. “Anyways, he was still an asshole-”

“ _Is_ still an asshole.” Dennis corrected.

“-and he came back here and tried to beat up Clifford.”

“I was sick that day, so he was back there alone. I only really know what Deli told me.” Dennis admitted.

“Well, he did land a couple hits, he actually bit you in the back.”

“What?” Clifford frowned.

“Yeah, we always made fun of it, saying he might have had rabies or something.” Dennis chuckled.

“Actually, something really funny happened then.” Cordy grinned. “So, me and Willy-Billy were back there, he had just bit you and I had shoved him to the floor. He stood up and kicked at your bro, and he caught his leg.” She paused. “Now, Richie isn’t exactly the smartest kid. So what do you think he did?”

Clifford shrugged.

“He kicked again. With the other leg.”

Will broke into laughter. “What?! How in the- Why did he think that would work?!”

“You’re implying that he actually _thinks_ about what he does.” Dennis chuckled.

“Sadly, the luck is with the dumb, and the teacher came by at that moment. Poor lil’ Richie was crying his heart out on the dirty floor and the awful troublemaker Willard had _clearly_ just ripped out the legs from underneath this sweet little kid.”

“…-the fuck?” Will was seriously doubting this school’s choice of teachers right then.

“Yeah, our teachers weren’t the best back then.” Dennis shrugged.

“So, Will gets in trouble, _I_ get in trouble.” Cordy giggled. “Because Richie insisted I was the one who bit you, which obviously, my parents didn’t believe for a second, and then we all went home.”

“I was really confused when I came back.” The brunette stood and looked up the tree. “Let’s see if it’s still there…Aha! Look!” he pointed at the tree above them.

The twins craned their necks to look up the tree. They couldn’t see much, so they stood to take a better look at it. Now Will could see something that vaguely resembled a contorted face up above their heads.

“We decided to make the rumours real.” Dennis explained. “One of them said that the old oak was possessed by a dead spirit of…. I don’t even remember what. So Cordy snuck her pocket knife into her backpack, then she got on Wills' shoulders and she etched that into the bark.” He jumped and tapped his hand against the face. “I went in after and put paint on it, so it looked properly like it was evil, you know? The paint has washed off and the carving has mostly disappeared over the years, but it’s still there.” He grinned. “And holy shit, we made any kid that came back here piss their pants. We started sitting behind the tree and whenever someone came over, we made gurgling noises and moans. And when a teacher came to check, we just hid in the bushes. It was great!”

“Sounds like it.” Clifford murmured. “But I still don’t remember it.”

Will hummed. “But you still feel it, right? That’s why you wanted to come over here. And also-” he took one of the more intact leaves from the ground and handed it to his twin. “-I’m pretty sure your room says otherwise.”

“My…” Clifford’s brows pushed together in thought and for a second, his face suddenly spoke volumes of sadness before he took a deep breath and made a small noise of acknowledgment. “I see.”

“What about his room?” Cordy asked.

“It’s all trees and leaves and nature. He practically falls in love with anything that has leaves on it.” Will grinned and poked his twin in his side.

“Stop that.” He grumbled. “And what about you? You are going crazy over all these random things, like that ice tea or ….that!” he gestured to the bowtie choker Will was wearing.

“I think it looks cool.” Cordy said. “It’s nice to see something different.”

“So, for the record.” Dennis snapped his fingers to get their attention. “Clifford can _not_ remember anything, but he apparently has some sort of sixth sense for things that are important to him. So Will could be having the same? I don’t really know you well enough to know what kind of things were important to you, man.”

“I do, though!” Cordy grinned. “We used to play pirates a lot, you loved that, I would have been content just playing catch. And you also really liked climbing things, and basically any sort of physical activity.”

“Well, that fits how you basically stormed that bubble trampoline.” Clifford chuckled.

“So it’s not a useless attempt at all.” Will mumbled. “We might still be able to find our memories someday.”

\----------------

On their way back, Clifford continued picking up the few complete leaves that were still left from the last year. He decided to put some of them in his diary at home. After having some more time to think about it, he could definitely agree with the other three. That oak tree behind the old pavilion had meant something to him. It was important.

He really wanted to ask their friends about them hearing parts of their memories, especially after he had gotten another when Will handed him the leaf earlier.

_“We’ll scare off anyone who tries to hurt us, right bro?”_

It had been a child’s voice, but he couldn’t tell if it had been himself or Willard who said this. Now he had a point of reference, and he was sure that this was around the time they carved that face into the tree, but…he could feel a big sadness and anger in that phrase.

He felt like he would have a lot to write down this evening and decided to get himself a way to take his diary along with him. In the hospital, he could write down things immediately, but so little happened there that he could do it all in one swoop in the evening. But just in one day, he was sure he had figured out more than he would be able to recall later.

“Will, can we do our notes together this evening?” he asked his twin. “I fear I may forget something.”

“What notes?” Cordelia asked.

“We have to keep a journal of some sort,” Will responded “To write down if we recall something or when something strange is happening with our bodies. Anything really, to help our reorientation. So today would be something like: Evil Blue Flames, met old friends, went on a journey of self-discovery and ended up remembering nothing.”

“Oh come on!” Cordelia punched his shoulder. “You may not _remember_ , but you still learned something new about your past! Don’t be a pessimist, it doesn’t suit you, Will.”

“And perhaps you should do that together.” Dennis added. “You could just write with no filter, let the other see it and compare. Getting a new point of view from someone close to you, or someone who is in the same position, can help a lot.”

“You mean, let us read each other’s diaries?” Clifford asked.

“Uh, I can read your girly little diary, but I’m keeping a _journal_ , thank you very much.” Will laughed before dodging his twin’s attempt to shove him.

“Man, you don’t know how good this feels.” Dennis smiled. “I missed you two.”

“Same here.” Cordelia grinned before pulling the others into a group hug. “Now, anything else you wanted to do today? We can’t have a sleepover yet, and we have school tomorrow, but you can come visit any time after 4 PM, okay? And then we’ll have vacation and be free to come over and bother you all day.”

“Nope, we’ll have our tutoring sessions.” Clifford sighed. “A few teachers volunteered to help orientate us and figure out what class we should be in, so we’ll be giving our best to catch up with you two.”

“Yeah, I want to get into your grade, otherwise I’ll die of boredom.” Will agreed.

“Oh fucking hell.” Dennis groaned and held his head in his hands “I can almost see the chaos you two will create.”

“I think I’ll get started on thinking up some pranks.” Cordelia giggled and nudged Will.

The group arrived back at the hedge and wrestled their way through the foliage again.

“I keep telling my parents that we should install a gate here.” The redhead combed some leaves out of her hair before plucking a twig out of Wills. She then cast a look at Clifford and snorted before she began laughing, his brother quickly cackling along.

“What?” Clifford ran a hand through his hair, but couldn’t find anything wrong.

When Will reached out and poked his cheek, he tried to brush his hand away, but his twin intercepted him and held his wrist for a few seconds before retracting his finger. There was a big ladybug sitting on it.

“There.” Will grinned.

He reached out and let the bug climb on his own finger before joining Dennis Cordelia, who had sat down under the tree again.

“This was nice.” Cordelia sighed before she turned around and laid down, letting her head rest into the middle of the sort-of-circle the four had made. “We should do stuff like that more often now.”

The quartet of teens sat in silence, and soon the other three laid down with Cordelia, Dennis laying his head on her stomach. The sun wasn’t high up anymore, but not quite setting either, and the tree protected them from its glare.

“I kinda don’t want to go home.” Will mumbled. “I think you two are really great friends.”

“You _think_?” Dennis said in false accusation. One could hear the laughter in his voice though.

“We told you about that weird brain condition we have.” Will sighed. “I’m pretty sure that I’m good with knowledge- as in, I know stuff I shouldn’t as a seven-year-old kid- but… apparently, I’m very out of touch with emotions. From what I’ve seen on TV, you two are amazing friends, and _I_ enjoy your company, so I think you are _my_ friends, not just seven-year-old Will’s friends. I just-…. can’t connect the two. You are either kid-Will’s great friends, or you are _my_ friends.” He sighed. “Sorry. I don’t know what I’m saying.”

Clifford frowned. He hadn’t realized until earlier that day that Will was mostly slapping on a fake smile most of the time. And now, within the span of a single day, he felt like he had found out more about his twin than in the past two months. While he was sure that his twin was bottling something up, he was concerned with the amount of self-doubt and inner conflict he could basically feel emanating from the teen.

“I think I get it.” Dennis said. Clifford could hear him pat Wills' arm. “It’s because we waited so long for our best friends and didn’t forget them like some others would have, we are great friends to these kids. But since you woke up without these memories, you must feel like we are not willing to be your friends too, right?”

“….That- sounds about right. How are you so good at that?”

“What?”

“You just- said how I was feeling. And I…can’t do that. It’s always- It just sounds wrong every time.”

“I think it’s because we think differently. When I describe something, it’s always ‘It felt like that, and then there was that smell and it reminded me of that other thing’ and so on. You said you're out of touch with your emotions, well, I rely a _lot_ on my emotions and feelings. You describe how something is, the state of it, like the TV example of friendship. You compare and you measure. You just think in a more analytical way.” He chuckled. “You’ll have fun with science.”

“If you say so.”

“And by the way, while we did expect to regain our old friends, we are completely fine with getting to know you again.” Cordelia added.

“Oh, right. I forgot that.” Dennis laughed awkwardly. “Got a little off track there, sorry. And I think so too. You two don’t feel like the same people, and I can respect that.  But I can tell there is still some of those kids in you. Your parents would surely support that claim.”

“They did tell us sometimes when we do certain things that we did these before as well.” Clifford mumbled, thinking back to when he criticized his dads singing.

“Okay,” Cordelia said, “So, there is a piece of Teen-Will and Kid-Will as well as a piece of Teen-Cliff and Kid-Cliff.-”

“Please call me Clifford.”

“-We don’t know how much of you is Kid and how much is Teen, since your memories are gone, it would mostly be Teen now, though right?”

“Deli, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work like that.” Dennis interrupted her.

“I _know_ that, Dennis.” she huffed. “It’s just easier to visualize. Like that Good-Bad-poster from Lilo and Stitch.”

“I wonder if my Kid or Teen self is the Bad One.” Will chuckled.

“Will? Clifford?” their mom's voice carried over from their garden. Clifford twisted around a bit to look over the hedge. “We are done with your computers. You can stay for a little bit longer, but you should come back over by six, alright?”

He pulled out his phone. 17: 38 PM.

“Alright, mom.” he called back. “Thank you!” he tacked on afterward.

“How long does that mean we have?” Cordelia groaned and pushed Dennis off of her.

“About twenty minutes.” He saw her check her own phone and whistle.

“Yep. You are definitely faster than any second grader I know.” She stood up and stretched. “Let’s go up to my room for a bit.”

The boys followed her into the house and up the stairs. Her door was covered in stickers and signs, and the walls inside were basically the same. Clifford could barely see the wallpaper in some places, there were posters and postcards taped on the walls everywhere. She had a corner full of beanbags and a large shelf with a TV in it on the other side. The floor was covered in a green carpet and there surprisingly much room.

“Where do you sleep?” Clifford asked when he found what was missing. Or- not found?

Cordelia grinned, walked over to her very neatly kept desk, which looked a lot like Clifford’s, with a high back, but no shelves on it. She pushed away the chair with her foot and- pulled on something on the left and right side of it? And after a simple tug on the high back, the desktop tilted- no, wait, it didn’t tilt it stayed completely level- it rotated down, and suddenly there was a bed where there had only been a desk before.

“What?” he stared.

“That is awesome.” whispered Will.

“My dad built it. He’s a carpenter. It’s very stable, and look down here-” she kneeled and the twins copied her. Dennis just went over to sit in a beanbag in the corner and grinned. “- all my stuff stays on the desk.” She stood again and pushed the bed back up before pushing in what Clifford now recognize as some sort of pin. “And boom. Enough room to play twister during sleepovers. Kinda gives away to my parents if I have done my homework yet or nah, though.” She shrugged.

“So, fifteen more minutes.” Dennis piped up. “What’cha wanna do?”

“….Wanna watch some people fall on their face?” she gestured to the TV.

“What?” Clifford felt like his brain had stopped functioning somewhere between the desk-bed and now.

“We can go online with the TV.” The girl explained, already pressing the power button on the remote and swiftly opening up YouTube. “Go sit with Dennis, I’m fine sitting on the floor.”

“Really?” Clifford asked as he and Will went over to the other teen.

“Yeah, she does it even when there’s a couch.” Dennis assured them.

They spent the next few minutes looking at videos online, which the two had been unable to do so far, since their phones hadn’t been connected to the internet yet, so it was a nice experience to share with their new friends, and once they found out that they had not had any contact with the internet so far, Cordelia moved on from the ‘Fail Compilation’ they had been watching to show them a couple other things. Clifford was a little relieved, since a lot of the so-called ‘Fails’ seemed like they were either very painful or the persons own fault. While Will was quite possibly dying of laughter beside him, he only really enjoyed those videos of people getting what they had coming –without being gravely injured- or those that were completely out of anyone’s control, like those weather fails. What their friends showed them next, however, started what might have been the first fight he had with his brother.

“Come on, stop fucking with me, it’s clearly gold!”

“Maybe your eyesight is worse than you thought, you’re practically half-blind!”

“Oh, _really_? So I can’t even trust my own eye now?!”

“Erm, guys?” Dennis tried to pacify them with a careful tone.

 “Like you said, eye. One. _Singular_. You are literally missing half your eyesight, so perhaps you might be a _little_ colour blind-”

“Guys.”

 “It’s not fucking blue! I’m pretty sure it’s not fucking black and blue!”

“IT’S BOTH!” Cordelia yelled. “God dammit, I wouldn’t have shown you that if I knew you’d freak out like that.” She gestured to the dress shown on her TV.

“It’s gold and white! It’s not both!” Will cried.

“I saw gold and white too at first.” Dennis said. “I mean I could see the pic was taken in a bad lighting, and after reading that it was actually a blue and black dress-”

“So I’m right?” Clifford asked.

“Shut up. After reading that, I was able to actually switch back and forth between the two, but nowadays I just see it in black and blue.”

“And I’ve always seen black and blue.” Cordelia shrugged. “But seriously guys, please chill the fuck out. That thing went viral and millions of people were fighting over it, I just thought it’d be funny to see what you think.”

Will stared intently at the picture. “It’s still gold and white.”

“You know what? Give me your numbers, then download WhatsApp once you have internet, and I’m gonna send you a bunch of links to check out.”

“Yeah, I should be going too.” Dennis stretched and stood up, offering a hand to each of the twins.

After they had all exchanged numbers, the boys left Cordelia’s home and walked home.

“So, should we check out the internet together?” Will asked him.

“Sure. Maybe ask about our phones too.” Clifford remarked when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

 

_**Cordelia, 6:01 PM:** U guys shuld seriously spend more time online, ther’s way 2 much ur missing out on! xD_

_btw ur reaction to the dress was awesome, remind me 2 show u yanny/laurel sometime ;P_

 

_**Clifford, 6:01 PM:** What does ‘btw’ mean? Your texting is a little hard to read._

 

_**Cordelia, 6:02 PM:** btw = by the way xD youve been texting 2 much w/ your parents _

_**Cordelia, 6:02 PM:**   w/ = with_

_**Cordelia, 6:07 PM:** btw, have fun w/ tha internet! xDD_

_**Cordelia, 6:15 PM:** u having fun yet ?? ô_Ô_


	11. Internet Explorers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> I really hoped I would be able to post a longer chapter, but it just wouldn't come to me. And most likely, next week's chapter will either be very short as well or not there at all.  
> I'm so sorry, I never realized how much a term paper can kill your creative, non-formal writing.
> 
> I still hope you enjoy this chapter, even if it is short. I will put in the links to some of the websites the boys find during their short exploration down in the other author notes, if you wanna check them out... QwQ
> 
> Holly ~♥

**_Cordelia, 6:07 PM:_ ** _btw, have fun w/ tha internet! xDD_

**_Cordelia, 6:15 PM:_ ** _u having fun yet ?? ô_Ô_

 

**_Clifford, 6:20 PM:_ ** _Yes, excuse me. Our parents wanted to show us how to use our laptops first._

**_Clifford, 6:21 PM:_ ** _It might take a while until I can answer again._

**_Cordelia, 6:28 PM:_** _thats fine, take ur time :D_

  ** _Clifford, 7:06 PM:_** _Alright, we’re done._

**_Clifford, 7:07 PM:_ ** _Sorry that it took so long._

 

Clifford placed his phone on his laptop, among the coils of the charger’s cord.

Will had already disappeared upstairs with his, but he had wanted to answer Cordelia first. After all, he hadn’t intended to ignore her for almost half an hour. When they had returned home, their parents had immediately relieved them of their phones, so that their dad could show them how to get internet access on them. Then they had to sit through another dad-talk of viruses and how to work with their firewall and antivirus programs.

Luckily, this one was shorter than the one they had at the store, most likely because it was cut short by Annie.

Who went on to explain what websites might be dangerous to go on and that they shouldn’t buy things online and a lot of other things that seemed to be clogging his brain at the moment.

But at last, they were released to go to their rooms and have fun. Willard had disappeared quicker than he could ask if he wanted to do this together, so he was on his own.

After he set down the computer on his own desk and plugged in the power cord, he opened up the internet browser and stared at the ‘Google’ logo. Sam and Annie had explained a few major websites to him, and handed each of the boys a slip of paper with a few of them accompanied by a short explanation.

He stared at the blinking cursor in the search field.

‘What am I going to look for?’ he asked himself. His eyes drifted over to the wall, where the setting sun was colouring the room in a soft yellow tone. The sight was calming, but it reminded him that it was going to get dark outside in a few hours.

“Let’s see… ‘scared of the dark’.” He mumbled as he typed.

The first thing that popped up was a music video. Then the Wikipedia page for the song and one for a horror movie. After scrolling down further past the picture results - which he only glanced at and got goose bumps – he found a few results that might actually help with the issue. There were still results about that song scattered in between, so he scrolled up and opened up the video.

Might as well listen to some music while doing the research. The song ended shortly after he was done reading the first website, so he began exploring Youtube as well, parallel to his quest of finding a way to deal with the darkness.

He chose a playlist of pop songs to listen to, then dived back into the text he’d been reading. Both of them had emphasized that being scared of the dark was natural, since humans are aware of how vulnerable they are when they cannot see if something dangerous is hiding in the shadows.

But that wasn’t it.

He was completely aware that there was nothing dangerous in the darkness of his room. Clifford was scared of the lack of light itself, not what maybe-perhaps-might-be-there.

The third website seemed more helpful than the other two. Instead of telling him how he felt or why he felt that way, it actually gave him solutions to the problem.

To solve the problem of sleeping alone, he could keep spending half the night with his twin before spending longer periods away from him. He could play music, which sounded pretty good. It would distract him, not from noises he might hear, but rather how alone he was in his room. He already talked to his friends about his fear of the dark, but maybe he should actually tell Will that he was scared to sleep alone? Another thing the page suggested was to make the room more comforting, and as he looked he around his bare bones room, he could see the problem. Another suggestion was to get a night light.

Clifford went back to the playlist and paused the currently playing video. The first song had been quiet and calming, and he could see himself listening to it more often, but he didn’t really like this one. He sighed and leant back in his chair.

‘Well, I know of a couple more things we need.’ He smiled wryly, taking in the severe lack of paper and pens and general desk-things in general. ‘Might as well go buy more decoration.’

And a nightlight.

Perhaps… he was sure he must have had one as a kid. Perhaps he could ask his parents for it? And he wanted to talk to Will about the sleepover thing anyways, so he headed out to talk to his family.

Annie and Sam were lounging on the couch, watching something on TV and munching chips. When he looked over from the kitchen he could barely recognize a salt-shaker shaped robot firing a sort of death laser.

“Hm.”

Not really his thing. Will would like it more, probably.

He walked over to stand in the doorway. “Um.” He peeked into the living room. The door was in sight of the couch, so Annie saw him and waved before reaching over to grab the remote to pause the DVD. Well, at least he wasn’t interrupting them.

“What is it, dear?” Annie asked.

“Did I have a nightlight when I was little?”

“Well, when you were very little, yeah.” Sam shrugged. “But you stopped needing it when you turned four, so…I don’t really know where it is. Why do ask?”

“….I might be…uncomfortable with darkness. And being alone in said darkness. But I can’t really do much about the latter.”

Annie hummed. “…We might still have some light garlands downstairs. Most of them would be a little Christmas-y, but they might do the trick until we get you a proper light.”

“Let us watch this episode, then I’ll come show you where they are, alright?” Sam offered.

“That would be great, thank you.” Clifford smiled gratefully before turning to go upstairs to his next stop.

“Psst!” Annie stage whispered. “Can you get me a bowl from the kitchen?”

“Um, okay?”

He had to search a little, but after a minute his mother seemed to recall that he would have no idea where the bowls were in the kitchen, and she called over from the living room: “They’re in the cupboard left side down of the fridge!”

“Thanks!” he replied and grabbed a plastic cereal bowl.

“What do you need it for?” he asked when he returned.

Annie waved him over and gestured for him to hold out the bowl for her. Then she dumped half the chips into it.

“Okay, you can go now.” She made a shooing gesture at him.

“….Thank you.” He said, then he slowly left the living room with the chips to check if he understood the gesture correctly. When neither of his parents stopped him, he smiled and went upstairs while munching on the chips.

 

\-----------------

 

Will had run upstairs as fast as he could once his parents were done with their talk on safe computer usage. He had no idea what he should do, so he just popped in one of his games to install while he looked at the websites their parents note suggested.

At the very top was Google, which was the first website that opened when he started the Internet browser, so that was off the list. Next to it he opened tabs for Youtube, Facebook and Wikipedia.

‘Great. One of them I’ll have to log in to use and the others require me looking for something.’ He pondered this for a moment before typing one word into each of the search bars.

“Entertain me.”

He quickly closed Wikipedia when he saw that it didn’t really have any results that were usable, except for the titles of two songs, which he also found in his Youtube search results. The best results he got were on Google. A website that showed of other ‘interesting’ websites, of which the only ones he found even remotely interesting were the random-Wikipedia-article button, a game were you had to guess what part of the world was shown to you, an online gaming website, a few drawing pages, one of them you could actually draw on, the other one giving out prompts. Also a game that guesses what person you’re thinking of.

‘That should kill the next…’ he checked the status of his installing game. ‘One hour and twenty-seven minutes.’

Pretty soon he realized that listening to music while doing something else is severely distracting. He had been scrolling through different games on the gaming website and tried to remember a few games that sounded interesting, but forgot them as soon as they were out of sight.

“Why are you so frustrating?” he growled and closed both of the Youtube tabs again.

And the games website. Just out of frustration.

‘Most of those looked boring anyway.’

Then he went on to have fun with the random wiki articles, which was actually really entertaining and interesting. For about five minutes. But at least he learned a few things. Very unnecessary things, but …things.

Will took a look at the drawing prompt website and started giggling.

_‘A fat farmer who is drinking a whole bottle of hot sauce as a result of a bet with a diseased marching band soloist.’_

“I can’t draw that!” he giggled, before clicking on the prompt button to get one that would be easier.

_‘A lively and educated mime who is on fire.’_

“Um, easier, but…”

_‘A pale and diminutive Mafia don who is feeling threatened.’_

“I think I’ll do the pantomime on fire…” he chuckled and closed the tab.

But as it turned out, the drawing program was different than what he had initially thought. It mirrored what he drew and used a sort of flamey brush. That was set on blue by default.

“Ew.” He reflexively clicked the ‘New’-button in the corner. “Okay, I won’t be able to draw anything natural with that.”

So he just experimented. He picked different colours, while still avoiding the blue, and once he was done he created a folder on his desktop, named it _‘Wills Art’_ and saved the image as _‘First’_.

 

 

It frustrated him to no end that he would freak out over something as simple as a colour. He was sure there was a good reason for it, otherwise he wouldn’t be this…uncomfortable with it. And when he looked at the blue of a sky or of literally anything else except flames, he felt nothing for it, but this of all things…

He decided to try putting in a little blue in the second picture without freaki- feeling uncomfortable. He didn’t put in much of it – there was much more yellow and orange in there, some purple too - and he even figured out how to mix colours, though he was unsure how exactly they were mixed in the end result.

It didn’t really work, it just made him feel squirmy and detached. There wasn’t even that much blue in it, and it frustrated him a lot.

His head was pounding.

‘There has to be a reason for this, what am I trying to remember, there is something there isn’t it I can almost recall it there was a fire I’m sure of it andstopfightingmeletmetakeov-‘

Knock knock.

“Clifford?” Will’s voice reached him through his muddled thoughts.

He quickly closed his laptop. Without his drawing staring him in the eye, he felt much calmer.

“….Yeah?”

“Hello.” Clifford came in and sat down on his bed. There was a worried look on his face.

“’Sup?” Will grinned weakly in an attempt to distract from his obvious ….uncomfortableness.

“….You know how-… we spent the last two months sleeping in the same room?”

“Technically it was ten years, bro.”

“Of course, of course.” Clifford smiled and waved his hand. “I meant that, you know, actually trying to get to sleep. That…. Urg, wait a moment.” he thought for a minute or so before continuing.

“We have shared a room for a long time, and as our memory serves us right now, we have done so all our lives. The problem I have now is that I cannot fall asleep well when I am alone.”

“So this is your very formal attempt at asking your bro for a sleepover?”

Clifford deadpanned. “….Yes.”

“Sure, you think we have a spare mattress lying about?” Will chuckled at his brothers face.

“I can ask dad in a bit, he wanted to go find me a nightlight. Or a Christmas garland. I don’t know.”

“Cool, so we spend this evening together? What do you wanna do?”

“I don’t know? Sleep, I guess. The sleepovers we’ve seen on TV so far seem a bit…girly?”

“Whaaaat?!” Will smirked mirthfully. “So you don’t want to put on makeup and play spin the bottle? What kind of bore are you?”

“Do you want to put on makeup?” Clifford grumbled at him.

“Sure.” Will shrugged.

“What?” Clifford’s face made him crack up again.

“I’ll do it. I bet I’d look better than you.” He giggled.

“We don’t even have makeup.” His twin weakly tried to argue.

“I’ll go and see if mom has any I can borrow.”

“You’re weird.”

“Aw thanks, bro!”

Just then, they faintly heard Sam’s voice calling.

“Alright, I’ll get the mattress, if we have one, and the nightlight.”

“And I’ll take care of the makeup.”

“Great.”

With that, his brother was gone.

And he still had to take care of…that thing.

He took a look at his laptop. Maybe…

Will opened it up and quickly saved the drawing.

Perhaps one day, he could look him in the eye and not feel like he might just disappear forever.

File saved: ‘Blue Flames’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am praying that the images work...
> 
> Here are some of the links Will had the most fun with:  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Random ---> Some random Wikipedia article  
> https://ineedaprompt.com/ ---> These prompts are hilarious! xD  
> http://weavesilk.com/ ---> I so badly wanted to spend the next hours playing around with it...
> 
> And well, Clifford was obviously the most satisfied with WikiHow's results.


	12. A good night's rest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ka-boom!  
> I finished my paper early, so I can come back to writing IMPORTANT things :D  
> So thank you all for the reviews and Kudos, it's really motivating!  
> And I realized I had lost track of the weekdays in the story a bit... I just. Went and adjusted that. Nothing big, just turned a Sunday into the saturday it was meant to be...  
> Must've been my brain yearning for double sundays. Can you imagine? :D ♥  
> Anywho, have a sleepover chapter :3
> 
> Holly ♥

The basement of their house was dark and dusty, and there were some cobwebs hanging from exposed pipes that ran along the ceiling. Bare lightbulbs and lights that would have been more at home on a construction site lightened up the hallway. There were four rooms, two at the front and two in the back.

“The first two are the boiler room,” Sam gestured to the room on their right, “And the storage for camping things and stuff for festivities.” He opened the door to a room that was stuffed full with various things. “Also, whatever else didn’t fit anywhere else.” He sighed and walked over to a shelf that was precariously stacked with things like folding chairs, camping equipment and various boxes. On the very top, a small box held the inflatable mattress they were looking for.

“… Why don’t you go check out the light-thingies.” He gestured to what might have been a shelf at some point. Now it was more like a pile of holiday stuff making an attempt at having a structure. There was a box sitting right at the edge of the pile labelled ‘Lights’.

It was full with different lights, some of them very clearly for a Christmas tree, others at the bottom had probably been used for someone’s birthday once, and there were some Halloween themed ones with little ghosts and pumpkins. After a bit of searching, he picked out one that further proved the point Will had been making earlier about trees. It was a pretty garland though, with fake leaves weaved around the bare lightbulbs. He plugged it into an outlet near the door to check out how it looked when it was on. Most of the lightbulbs were busted.

“I think there should be lightbulbs for that in the box as well.” Sam called from where he was now standing on an old chair, trying to remove the air mattress and another small box without toppling the shelf or himself.

By the time Clifford found the lightbulbs in the tangle of wires, his dad had succeeded in his quest and helped him with putting in the lights.

“What’s in the other two rooms?” he asked when they went back upstairs.

“The one on the right had electronics and tools for any DIY projects that might come along. The one on the left has your old stuff. We had to move around a lot of stuff down there when we cleaned out your room.”

They came back upstairs, and Sam handed his son the boxes. “One of these is an electric air pump. The noise is a bit annoying, but it’s faster than doing it manually, trust me. You’ll also have to re-inflate the mattress after a while, the machine makes warm air and it will change its temperature inside, so it will seem like the mattress is deflating.”

“Okay, thank you.” Clifford left to go back to Wills room.

“I might bring you some snacks later!” Sam called after him.

 

\--------------------------

 

While Clifford asked their dad to come help him find the nightlight, Will used this distraction to raid the bathroom on the first floor.

So far, he had only found a single bag with two eyeliners, mascaras and a little concealer inside. His search of the shelves proved mostly fruitless as well, though he did find a handheld mirror. The cupboard underneath the sink had a decent amount of nail polish in a small cardboard box, which he took as well.

Quickly checking the hallways, he rushed upstairs to look through the other bathroom. Here, he found an old palette of kiddie face paint along with a brush and a sponge. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find anything else.

“Well, do I look like I wear a lot of makeup?”

“EEeek!”

Will jumped up from his crouched position next to one of the shelves, and nearly flew into the bathtub. His mother was leaning against the doorframe for support as she giggled.

“I - hehehe – don’t think you’ll find any more – snrk- than that, hahah!”

Will felt his face heating up.

“Have fun!” his mom giggled as she went back downstairs.

As soon as she was out of sight, the red-faced teen ran to his room.

Clifford had already returned, and was sitting next to a deflated mattress, with a small machine that sounded too much like a leaf blower than it had any right to with its size.

“Are you okay?!” the older twin yelled over the infernal noise.

“What is that?!” he gestured to the machine.

“Electric air pump!”

Will put away the makeup on his desk and looked through the internet to find makeup tutorials.

“Hey, can you google DIY and tell me what it means?”

“Do it yourself.” He answered before pausing. “That what it means. I wasn't telling you to- nevermind. Why?”

“…Now see, this is what I don’t get. I don’t know these things, but you somehow do. On the other hand, you don’t seem to have those gut feeling memories.”

“Can we not do that tonight?” he mumbled. “I feel tired. I mean, I will stay up for a little, but- I’m exhausted.”

“Alright then. What do you have there?” he leaned over his twins desk.

“Mostly Kiddie Makeup and nail polish.”

“I’m still not putting that on my face.”

“So you’ll try nail polish?” Will smirked.

Clifford groaned and snatched up the box. “If it’ll make you shut up.” He moved to the bed to rummage through the boxes contents while Will settled on what he wanted to do.

Since he hadn’t found anything remotely like what they used in the tutorials, he decided to improvise and began applying some mascara. He did get frustrated pretty soon, and left the room to ‘get something to get this off.’ When he came back about fifteen minutes later, he had makeup wipes, some cotton swabs and a bowl of water, as well as a plate of snacks. By now, Clifford had finished painting his fingernails black and had moved on to his toenails. Thankfully, the machine was also done, so the noise was finally gone.

“Mom caught me.” The semi-blonde placed the plate on the desk, where it was getting a little cramped now. “I need more places to put stuff onto.” He sighed as he looked around his room.

After removing the mistakes he made, he dipped the brush into the water bowl – turns out the kiddie paint was more like watercolour, as his mom had said - and put some of the kiddie makeup on his eyelids with the brush. He started off with the gold colour in the palette, before adding a bold red stripe directly above his eyelashes.

“Doesn’t look half bad.” He smiled while checking his work in the handheld mirror.

“If you say so.” Clifford mumbled absentmindedly as he looked picked out a glow in the dark nail polish from the box and began to paint a second layer onto the black.

“No seriously, I think I might be onto something!” he took the eyeliner and made a very thin stripe on the bottom of the dried red one.

Sadly, after they had both finished, neither twin knew what to do next.

“I’ll ask Cordy!” Will grabbed his phone.

**_Will, 8:02 PM:_ ** _Hey Cordy?_

**_Will, 8:02 PM:_ ** _what do you do at a sleepover?_

**_Cordy, 8:03 PM:_ ** _im not textin u until you get Whatsapp_

**_Cordy, 8:03 PM:_ ** _its in the appstore. tell cliff-nerd he need to get it 2_

 

“She says I should tell you to get Whatsapp.” Will told his twin as he looked for the app.

 

**_Will, 8:06 PM:_ ** _its installing now._

**_Will, 8:08 PM:_ ** _Cordy?_

“Dennis just wrote me that he’s making a group for us?” Clifford piped up from the bed.

Once the app had finally loaded, Will was already greeted with a couple of messages.

 

**_Dennis, 8:08 PM:_ ** _Deli told me you got Whatsapp, so I’m making us a group._

_………………………………._

**__ **

**_ The Triple F’s  <3 _ **

**_Dennis created ‘Four Friends Group’_ **

**_Dennis added Cordy_ **

**_Dennis added Will_ **

**_Dennis added Clifford_ **

**_Cordy changed ‘Four Friends Group’ to ‘The Fantastic Four’_ **

**_Dennis, 8:10 PM:_ ** _really? That’s the first fucking thing you do?_

**_Cordy, 8:11 PM:_ ** _I wanted it 2 say fantastically fabulous 4 TT^TT_

**_Dennis changed ‘The Fantastic Four’ to ‘The triple F’s’_ **

**_Cordy changed ‘The triple F’s’ to ‘The triple F’s <3’_ **

**_Dennis, 8:10 PM:_ ** _really?_

**_Cordy, 8:11 PM:_ ** _I <3 you!_

**_Will, 8:12 PM:_ ** _guys, what do you do at a sleepover?_

**_Will, 8:12 PM:_ ** _We have done the makeup already_

**_Clifford, 8:12 PM:_ ** _Will did_

**_Cordy, 8:12 PM:_ ** _lol what! Pictures plz!_

**_Dennis, 8:12 PM:_ ** _pics or it didn’t happen_

Will held up his phone as he figured out how to take a selfie.

**_Will, 8:14 PM:_ ** _[Picture]_

**_Will, 8:14 PM:_ ** _Tadaa._

**_Dennis, 8:15 PM:_ ** _how the shut up fucking no hell :O_

**_Cordy, 8:15 PM:_ ** _OMG you need 2 do drag with me sumtime! Youd look amazing! You look amazing now <3_

**_Clifford, 8:16 PM:_ ** _what’s that?_

**_Dennis, 8:16 PM:_ ** _boys dressing up like girls and vice versa_

**_Cordy, 8:16 PM:_ ** _but with **drama** and **shade**_

**_Will, 8:16 PM:_ ** _sounds fun, sure_

**_Will, 8:16 PM:_ ** _but about the sleepover?_

**_Clifford, 8:17 PM:_ ** _we have some snacks_

**_Dennis, 8:17 PM:_ ** _watch a movie_

**_Cordy, 8:17 PM:_ ** _movies, duh._

**_Cordy, 8:17 PM:_ ** _lol_

**_Cordy, 8:17 PM:_ ** _also don’t forget the ’sleep’ part of sleepover. I did that once._

**_Cordy, 8:17 PM:_ ** _sleeping w/ no blankets isnt fun_

The twins took a look around the room before agreeing. While Clifford went downstairs to get his PJ’s and bedding, Will repositioned the mattress so it wasn’t laying right next to his bed. He didn’t want to step on his brother in the morning after all. After he had set up the mattress, he went over into the small, makeshift attic bathroom, where he had seen a folding chair the other day. Their parents had told them not to put the laptops on their beds, so watching a movie at the desk would require a second chair for Clifford.

After the two of them had set up everything they needed, they went downstairs to pick out a movie to watch. Their parents paused their show to tell them where the DVD cabinet was, but otherwise left them to it.

However, it became apparent that their taste considering entertainment was pretty varied. They kept on vetoing each other’s picks, until they discussed in hushed tones how to do this.

“Listen, we each pick out five movies we want to watch.” Will started. “Then we move this into the kitchen.” He nodded towards their parents.

“What then?”

“We’ll have ten movies, and we’ll make up criteria by which to eliminate them, like ‘the length of the movie has to be at least so and so long’ or there had to be the letter ‘q’ in the first sentence of the summary.”

“And anything else gets eliminated?”

“Yup. Also, we no planning ahead, we only use stuff that’s on the back, while picking movies only judging by the front cover.”

“We’ll end up watching something we both hate.”

“We’ll end up having the same possibility of getting bored.”

“Ugh, fine then.” Grumbled the older twin and began to pick out his movies.

Once in the kitchen, they looked over their selection and found that Will had only picked out cartoons, while Clifford had only picked live action movies.

“I veto anything that’s under an hour long.” Will started.

They began to check the running time of the movies. None was shorter than 60 minutes.

“Okay, so do we just leave it like that?” Clifford asked, but Will picked up ‘Dumbo’.

“How about we just pick the one that’s the shortest?”

“Fine.” They put away the cartoon and Clifford made a humming noise. “Hmm… I veto… anything that has…. Been made after the year we were born.”

They had to sort out Alice in Wonderland, Arrietty, Zathura and Lilo & Stitch.

“So, anything over 2001? Including 2001, or…?” Will held up ‘Monsters, Inc’.

“What date was it made?” He began to check for the production dates.

“It was released at the beginning of November.”

“So, still before our birthday. Keep it.”

Will looked the remaining DVD’s over before giving the next criteria.

“I veto anything that doesn’t have something supernatural in it.”

They read through the summaries at the back.

“…so, Parent Trap?”

 “Bye Bye!” Will sang as he pushed it over to the disqualified disks.

“We have four movies left now, why don’t we just watch these? It’s not like we’ll have to stand up early tomorrow.” Clifford suggested, seeing as, right now, they each had two of their picked movies left.

“You’re a genius.” Will whispered and scooped up the movies before racing upstairs. “You put the others back!” he called over his shoulder.

 

\--------------------------

 

**_ The Triple F’s  <3 _ **

**_Will, 8:59 PM:_ ** _So we have four movies, you wanna tell us which one to watch first?_

**_Cordelia, 9:02 PM:_ ** _your mean, we have school 2morrow q-q_

**_Dennis, 9:02 PM:_ ** _Fire away, man._

**_Will, 9:02 PM:_ ** _Monsters Inc, Matilda, Mary poppins and Princess Mononoke_

**_Dennis, 9:02 PM:_ ** _fucking hell, those are some icons_

**_Cordelia, 9:02 PM:_ ** _Mary Poppins is so sweet, and like, ever1 in the world has seen it, so u shud definetly watch that ASAP. Also Monsters Inc. it really helped me to not be afraid of monsters. Its really funny and sad_ _L_

**_Clifford, 9:03 PM:_ ** _So, we should watch Mary Poppins first, Monsters, Inc. second and then?_

**_Dennis, 9:03 PM:_ ** _Chill out man, I bet you won’t even be awake for that anymore. It’s basically impossible to watch more than two movies at a sleepover. You’ll be dead on your feet._

 

Will was putting in the first movie when his twin read the message out loud.

“Well, okay, perhaps they’re right.” He shrugged. “But we can try, right?”

Both had already changed into their sleeping clothes and had re-inflated the mattress, which had nearly lost half of the air inside simply by the warm air cooling down.

Clifford took his comforter and burrowed himself into it like a caterpillar into a cocoon before plopping down on the folding chair Will had put next to his desk. As he scooted closer, he watched his brother pick up his pillow and hug it to his chest like a teddy bear. They put the makeup aside, pulled up the laptop in the middle of the desk before starting the movie.

They made it during the first couple minutes pretty easily, even though the younger twin was found the movie boring until the nanny first appeared. But pretty soon, Will fell asleep during a lullaby about birds, and Clifford was nearly about to do the same. He barely resisted, and hesitantly shook his twin awake again. He would have felt bad to keep watching without him.

Thankfully, the movie seemed more upbeat, so it became easier to stay awake. Still, by the end of it, both were yawning and their blinks became longer and longer.

“We should go to bed.” Clifford finished with a yawn and scooted back his chair until he could worm his way onto the mattress. “Ugh!”

“Good night!” Will shut down the laptop and went to bed as well.

It didn’t take them long to succumb to sleep.

 

\--------------------------------------------

 

Clifford could feel the companionship of his twin as he slept.

He dreamt that he was sitting under a big tree – two trees, actually, entwined to be one – and listened to their silent conversation.

He could feel the sun on his skin and the wind in his hair.

‘I’m here.’

‘Please, don’t leave me here.’

‘Where would I go?’

He didn’t try to stand up. He knew it was supposed to be like this. Together.

“I belong with you.”

‘Thank you.’

And he felt the sun on his bark and the wind in his leaves.

 

\-------------------------

 

Will could feel the strength of his twin as he slept.

He dreamt that he was walking along a mirror – with the mirror to his blinded right side– and he could only see his reflection with his good eye if he turned his head.

His reflection was talking and he was listening.

‘I’m here.’

‘I’ll always be here.’

‘I have nowhere else to be.’

He didn’t touch the mirror. He knew it was better this way. Safer.

“Did you before?”

‘….’

His reflection left to wander the monochrome mirror world and he stared after him from the vibrant world of colour.

 


	13. Memory Lane - Now with plotholes

“ACCHOO!”

Will’s sneeze made him stumble against the basement wall.

“I know, I know-” Sam grumbled. “It’s a cellar, boys! There are dust and cobwebs, and there might be something living among all the stuff down here as well, we only really clean these room every couple years or so.”

When they had woken up this morning, Will had been in an okay mood, until he saw what had happened to his face during the night. And to his pillow.

The makeup he had completely forgotten about was smeared everywhere, and the boys spent the next half hour getting all the afflicted fabrics into the wash and cleaning off Wills' face.

After this, the younger twin talked Clifford into joining him as he played one of the games he had been installing yesterday, and while he had a lot of fun with it, Clifford grew bored and hungry quickly and convinced him to go downstairs. Annie had already left for work, but had written the boys a letter on some really nicely decorated paper.

_‘Good morning my boys!_ _☺_ _♥_

_I hope you have slept well, and that you had fun last night. I had to leave for work at 7 AM, but Sam is working from home today, so you can find him in his office. (Remember, it’s on the ground floor, right beside the bathroom._

_For breakfast, there is some bread in the bread bin on the counter, next to the toaster. The knives are there too, as well as the cutting board. Just be careful, and if you feel unsure, I am certain your dad would love to help out. We also have milk, so if you want cereal, it’s in the cupboard next to the fridge._

_I’m sure you want to look through your old things, and you’re free to do so, just tell your father that you’re awake beforehand, alright?_

_Otherwise, feel free to do whatever you like, but if you’re going to leave the house, please tell Sam._

_I’ll be home around 6 PM._

_Love you_ _♥_

_Mom_ _☺_ _’_

They had decided to have cereal for breakfast, since they had eaten bread the days before. Also, so they wouldn’t bother Sam at work until they actually had to.

Right now, Sam was leading them over to the room in the basement that held all their old stuff. After he opened the door and shut on the lights, the boys set sight on an assortment of basically everything that could go into a child’s bedroom.

“Was that all in our room?” Clifford asked, puzzled as to how all this would have fit into the room he now called his own.

“At some point.” Sam explained. “Some of these were furniture we decided to store, in case we might have use for it later, for like, your kids, or if we need a makeshift coffee table.” He gestured to a small wooden drawing desk, the various scribbles of what they assumed was permanent ink making its former use obvious.

“I’ll leave you to it then. Sorry, but I need to get back to work. You can come fetch me around 2 PM, if I haven’t taken a break until then.”

With that, the twins dove into the myriad of toys, furniture, even photo albums. Each item a record of an old memory, and each record scratched by their amnesia beyond recognition.

“….If you- actually find anything… show me as well?” Will asked his twin before opening up one of the albums, which was labelled ‘kindergarten’. It was filled with drawings.

“You as well, though.” Clifford sighed. He was crouching under a bunk bed that barely reached his chest when he was standing next to it. There was no bed frame underneath it, but rather, a few curtains made for a cave. Someone had stuck glow in the dark stars on the underside of the bed frame on the top.

Most of the next few hours rushed past them. While they were unable to truly remember anything, every once in a while one of them ask the other for his feelings on a certain item.

“Can you tell me why I feel the need to keep this?” Clifford was staring at a chair he wouldn’t even fit in now. There was a small footstool next to it as well. That he might take upstairs with him.

“Look at this! Kid-Me was an artist!” Will was waving around a few drawings he apparently made in school. There were a lot more of his than of Clifford’s, but… well. They were still a kids drawings. So, sure, he was excited to find something that showed his interests had mostly stayed the same, but he was sure he could do better now.

Clifford’s hand found something metal in the pile he was digging around in. He felt around the object, before finding a handle and pulling on it. “I hope this isn’t the nightlight my dad mentioned.” He placed the lantern on the footstool.

“I’m gonna keep all these paints and pens and stuff.” Will pushed a large box full of colour pencils and a watercolour set over to sit next to Clifford’s growing ‘take-upstairs-pile’. “Oh man, these draw on skin if you put them in water!”

“Wow. Come over here, this is full of cuddly toys.” Clifford waved the younger twin over to a sort of barrel. He picked up a well-loved stag plush and held it close. It felt right. Along with a few others, it went to the pile.

“Do you know them?” Will asked as he showed a picture to his twin. There were four kindergarteners in the pictures, a brown haired one climbing over one of them – at this age they were really impossible to tell apart – while another, probably their sibling, tried to pull her off of whichever Taylor kid it was. Clifford suggested asking their parents.

“Woohoo, Jackpot!” Clifford grinned as he pulled out a piggy bank with his name on it. When Will came over to check his, it turned out that the older twin must have been better at saving than him. The semi-blonde resolved to ask their parents about pocket money, and if there was an interest rate for ten years of unpaid pocket money. Then he crossed off the latter, because it would make him sound ~~suspic~~ ridiculous.

They didn’t even notice Sam coming back downstairs, and when they did, they were surprised that it was already 3 PM. This was very suddenly stressed by their rumbling stomachs.

“Really. I’ll never trust you two to make me take my break again.” Sam tsk-ed in mock-disappointment.

He helped them carry their piles up to the ground floor, and after seeing a few of the things they picked out, he had a story to tell. While he got started on lunch, he asked what they wanted to know more about.

“Who are these kids?” Will blurted and showed him the picture he had found earlier.

“Ah! These are the other twins we told you about yesterday. You know, with the strange names. I’m sure one of them was named Mason, now that I think of it. His sister actually rammed Will when he was trying to walk, and then Clifford tried to tell her off in baby babbling, which was adorable. I think their parents were filming it. And then her brother came over just as she began to climb over you to get over to Will. He tried his best to stop her. You both did.” He chuckled. “In the end, it turned out she was trying to apologize. I think she gifted you a hairclip as an apology. You might be able to find it somewhere in the photo albums?”

“That’s adorable.” Clifford smiled down at the picture. If he looked closely, he could sort of begin to see the differences between the toddlers. He leaned over to check his twins face.

“What?”

“You have freckles.” He pointed at the photo. “I don’t.”

“You also used to get red really quickly.” Sam added. “So if we were particularly unsure, we’d check by doing something embarrassing. You would always be more embarrassed than us, and you’d be red as a tomato afterwards. Funnily enough, if it’s in the name of raising your kid properly, parents are allowed to do way more weird stuff than other adults.”

“Like what?” Will asked and leaned forwards.

“Like one time when you were about that age,” he gestured at the photo, “we were buying movies, and you suddenly stopped and picked one out that was way too expensive. So we vetoed it, and you began to throw a tantrum. Full on yelling, crying and throwing yourself to the floor.” He chuckled. “Until I did the same.”

Will blinked. Clifford began to chuckle behind his hand.

“Man, you were _perplexed_. I have never seen a child your age look more embarrassed in their _life_. It was as though suddenly, the realization of how you were behaving was too much to bear, and you just stopped associating with it.” He began to laugh. “And also with us. You just turned around, put back the movie and left.”

Clifford poked his twins reddening cheeks. The memory may have been gone, but the fake memory reel his brain created from the story was probably just as embarrassing as the real deal. The older twin just found it hilarious.

“Wait a moment.” Will turned around and looked through his pile before pulling out a tiny star-shaped hairclip. “Is it his one?” he asked with a hopeful glint in his eye.

“That’s exactly it!” Sam exclaimed with a grin. “Do you remember?!”

Will’s smile fell. “No, but- it felt important to me.” His left hand curled around it and pressed against his chest.

“What about the stuff I picked? Anything with an interesting story?” Clifford gestured to his pile.

Sam thought for a moment before a smile lit up it face. “That chair the footstool belongs to. You tried to move out once and wanted to take it with you.”

“When was that?” Will raised a brow.

“When he was three I believe.” Sam stroked his chin in thought. “He picked up everything he wanted to take with him, a lot of that is actually in that pile, your xylophone, camera, the cart, Stag Prince and the chair with the footstool.”

Indeed, Clifford had taken the little wooden xylophone he found with his name written on it, as well as the camera they had been told about the other day. The cart felt like something useful to have upstairs, and he was sure ‘Stag Prince’ was the plushies name.

“You tied everything together on the cart and went to go downstairs. Then you realized the major problem the stairs posed, so you asked if we could carry it all down for you.” He chuckled. “I told you: ‘You’re your own man now, son. I’m sure you can do it all on your own.’ Man, you were _pissed_. Also, that’s when I realized you weren’t Will.” He shrugged apologetically. “I was in the bathroom, and you were on the other end of the hallway, so it was a little hard to see. I was actually surprised, Will tried to move out every month or so, but you only ever went along with him, you only went off alone about two times. Obviously, I was a little more concerned than usual. No offence.”

“None taken.” Will waved it off.

“Actually, this ties in with the other story.” He poked Wills hand that was still curled around the hair clip. “Apparently, you were actually mad that Will got a girlfriend, and you didn’t.”

“Great, now I really want to know who it was.” Will pouted and turned the clip around, examining it closely in hope of finding a clue about the owner.

“Well, it’s kindergartener logic, but I believe you weren’t really her boyfriend?” Sam had a confused look on his face. “To this day, I never understood what went on there. Something about marriage and a 5-boyfriend limit. I think back then you told me you had to fight a dragon for her once, but she still likes Will more? And it’s so hard to understand all these stories! Was it someone in a dragon costume, was it an interactive story time thing or just make believe? The way you told it, any of it could have been the truth.” He shrugged. “And anyways, after telling me what happened, I told you to talk to your brother about it. It seems like you two made a sort of pact about it, and the next day Will got slapped because he broke her heart.”

“Aww, what?” the younger twin looked downright heartbroken himself.

“Oh yes.” Sam nodded while poorly concealing a smirk. “She was an adorable little bean too, if she took after her mother I’m sure you two would get along really well now. Could one of you get the salmon from the fridge? It should be in one of the flat drawers at the bottom.”

“Got it.” Clifford announced after searching the drawers.

“Just open it up and put it on the table, it should have some time to warm up.” Sam went over to the freezer in the corner and pulled out a packet of frozen spinach.

“What are you making?” Will asked sceptically.

“Some noodles with spinach and smoked salmon. Don’t look like that, it’s delicious. Also, apart from the salmon, it’s pretty cheap too, and easy and quick to make, soo…. If you ever have a situation where you got no idea what to make for your date, this is something a little more impressive than mac n’ cheese.“

When the three sat down to eat, Clifford asked about Annie. But Sam assured him that it would be alright.

“Your mother has a long day today, on those she gets something during her break time. We really only eat together on the short days and weekends.” He smiled at them. “It’s really nice to have some company again.”

After lunch, their dad returned to his office while the boys carried what they had so far upstairs. Clifford placed the plushie on his bed and after pushing the footstool under his desk he looked for a place to put the metal lantern.

‘Nightstand. That’s what we forgot.’ He frowned and hung it up on one of the little protrusions of his bedposts, where the branches used to be. He set the piggybank down on his desk and returned into the basement, where Will was already back at digging through the various piles.

“How quickly did you put all that stuff away?” he asked the younger twin.

“Huh? I just put it on the floor for now. I can clean it up later. Dude, so you get this?” he pushed a kid-size toolbox towards him. Its lid had another see-through lid on it for smaller parts like nails, but he could only see rocks. The raven-haired boy took the box from Will and was startled by its weight.

Opening the first lid showed him lots of tiny stones, some of them had been painted or were covered in glitter. Scattered in between were shells and snail houses. After closing the first lid, he opened the big compartment and found another removable tool tray that was also filled with rocks of all sorts and colours, whether they were painted or not. He picked up a reddish stone that had a bright white vein going through.

“This is pretty neat. Whose was it?” he looked further and whistled when he found a couple of stones that had indentations in it that looked like leaves and ferns and even seashells. “Are these real, what do you think?” he looked up to see his twins unimpressed face.

“Really? These are stones. They let one of us carry around _stones_. For _fun_.”

“I think it’s neat. Especially if you think that we were kids when we found them.”

“Meh. If they were mine, you have my permission to keep them. If not, thank god.” With this, Will turned around and opened up an old toybox.

Clifford put the little fossils back and peeked under the tool tray, where a large rock took up most of the space. He picked it up and immediately entranced. The rook was nearly the size of his hand whichever way he held it and had a vaguely triangular shape. The side that had faced upwards had been greyish white, with hints of crystals at one side. But when he turned it around, he found that the other side was covered with gold.

‘That can’t be real gold. I’m sure no adult would let a kid keep this in a toolbox in their room.’

As he examined it further, he saw that one side had been clearly cut off and he could see the regular stone in the middle of the entire rock, as well as where the crystal and gold parts began. He carefully put it back into the toolbox and set it aside to ask about later.

The boys were scouting the room for things until they were interrupted by the arrival of a car and the front door upstairs announcing Annie’s return. They quickly took the smaller things they found upstairs and set them down near the stairs before greeting their mom. She had just hung up her coat and put her shoes into the shoe rack.

“Hello my dears!” she pulled them both into a hug. “Did you get my letter?”

“We did.” They announced simultaneously.

“It was really sweet.” Will hummed into her neck.

“Come, on let’s move this to the living room, and tell me what you did today!” she ushered them through the kitchen and into the living room, passing their dad who was making a pot of tea.

“Would you like some tea?” he asked as they were passing through.

“Yes please.” Annie answered. “Get the boys some as well.”

“Way ahead of you.” He filled up the four cups he had picked out before following his family into the living room, where they had snuggled together on the couch.

They spent the duration of the evening talking about their day, drinking their tea – which Will did not enjoy as much as his twin -  and munching on the toasts Sam had prepared and brought to the living room beforehand. The combination of curled hands around their respective colourful mugs and the whole family sitting and cuddling together, this made for a very calming and relaxing atmosphere.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something.” Clifford hesitantly disentangled himself from his twin and mother, slightly worried that he was disrupting the calm. “I will be back in a moment.” He went back to the hallway and picked up the toolbox.

“Whose is this?” he asked his parents after carrying it back.

“Oh, that was Wills. Why?”

“I found something inside, and I don’t know if he wouldn’t like to keep it.” He pulled out the big rock.

“Oh yes!” Annie exclaimed. “Your grandfather gave that to Will. He used to be a miner, and he found this years before you were born and kept it. When he heard you liked to collect interesting stones, he searched their garage for it and after finally finding it, he invited us just to give it to you. I wish I had known about it, I’d have brought a camera.” She had a melancholic and proud look on her face.

“So, that isn’t actual gold?” Will asked.

“No, it’s pyrite, also called _fool’s_ gold.” She teased.

“But hey, I’ve seen what the gemstones cost in the shops and at the Christmas markets. They’re selling it as though it was real gold.” Sam grumbled.

“And many fools are falling for it.” Their mother smiled.

“So, I can keep it?” Clifford checked. After seeing his brothers shrug, he beamed and went to put the toolbox back.

“You wanted some of the furniture from the basement, right?” Sam asked them when the older twin returned.

They had each found various pieces of furniture that would still fit into their rooms now, like the nightstands they used to have. Will wanted to repaint his, but Clifford was content with the natural wood colour. Clifford hadn’t wanted to take the old bookshelf, but then he had found out that the little wooden animals that made it too immature were detachable, so he agreed to take it upstairs as well. After a little persuasion, Will had agreed to take a shelf upstairs as well, even though he had a feeling it would be used more for random trinkets than actual books. Also video games.

The family cleaned off the living room table together and the adults helped to carry the second pile of stuff upstairs to their rooms. Feeling tired, Clifford didn’t even bother to put them away, simply bid goodnight to his family and got ready for bed. Just before shutting off the lights, he recalled the garland.

‘I’m feeling too tired for this.’ He thought, and simply let the wire wind over from the outlet and stuffed the rest of the garland into the lantern he had hung up earlier. ‘There. Done.’ And once his head hit the pillows, he was asleep almost immediately.


	14. The first weeks of Summer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone!
> 
> Thanks so much for the nice comments :3 I'm really glad you're enjoying the story so far!   
> There is going to be a time skip, since I'm fairly certain you don't want to read through a summer break full of tutoring sessions. (If you do, I might create a little oneshot collection relating to Try Again, since I do have a few scenarios in mind, so tell me if you'd be interested!)
> 
> Also, I know I mostly use British English, I try not to slip up, but sometimes I just kinda mix it up. If you find any typos, you can have a grammar cookie :P
> 
> Enjoy, and I'll be back next sunday!  
> Holly ~♥

_ June 12 2018, Tuesday _

_Mom had a short day today, so we ate lunch together. I woke up earlier than Will did, and I didn’t want to wake him up, so I just told Dad that I was awake and was going to eat breakfast alone._

_Carrying the furniture upstairs will have to wait until we were both awake, so I went back to my room for now. I’ll just wait until Will comes downstairs, until then I can look through the old music sheets I took upstairs yesterday._

_*_

_I can’t believe it! I still know how to play this thing!_

_Violin. I can still play violin._

_I don’t remember what the notes on the sheets correspond with, but I can play it anyways. Dad heard me play and came upstairs. He told me it could be muscle memory. And something about how certain things are never forgotten after they are learnt, like walking or riding a bike._

_*_

_I woke up Will. He came downstairs shortly after dad left to get back to work, so I told him to go ahead and get himself breakfast._

_*_

_We finished moving everything. Mom’s letter said she’ll be home at four, so there was still a lot of time. Even though we already spent so much time in the basement looking for more stuff. I’m a little bored, so I took whatever books I could find and brought them upstairs. Might as well kill some time._

_*_

_Read about twenty kid books and it only took me an hour. I saw lots of books in dad’s office, perhaps I can ask for a couple of them? Will seems to be having fun with his laptop, so he’s not really good company right now._

_*_

_Listened to the radio, practised violin and read another five books. I think I read all of them now? Also, the Internet is growing on me, there are instructions on how to read notes._

_*_

_There are websites with stories! Some of the spelling is atrocious and I occasionally I have no idea who the characters are, but it’s a start! In hindsight, where did that word come from? Atrocious?_

_*_

_Apparently, it comes from a latin word **atrox** , which means cruel. Interesting._

_*_

_When mom came home, I had started playing again, so she heard and came up immediately. We talked for what feels like hours. Really, it couldn’t have been more than one, but it was really nice. Mom wanted to make dinner with us, so I had to go get Will. After dinner, I asked dad for some books, and both him and mom gave me some of their favourites._

_*_

_I can play a song without the music sheet now. Dad said it was the first song I learned and that used to be my favourite, which is why I played it every day when I was younger. It seems that I started to learn violin when I was six, mom said I saw a violin player at the park who played very well, and I fell in love with the instrument then and there._

_I’m inclined to believe her. I like the sound of it a lot, even now, when don’t remember the event that made me like it so much in the first place._

_*_

_It’s getting late. I rearranged the light garland a little from where I stuffed it yesterday, but it just seems like it’s in the right place, so I’ll just make it look a little smoother and more natural._

_Tomorrow, I should ask my dad if he knows a way to attach the leaves I picked up this Sunday onto the wire. Before we have all the meetings with our future tutors/teachers._

_\----------------------------_

 

_ June 13 2018, Wednesday _

_I woke up at ten today. I think I had another nightmare, but I can’t remember._

_Perhaps I should ask Clifford to have a sleepover again, I slept really well the last time._

_Urgh, I forgot the teacher meeting. Our parents only told us yesterday! Mom said ‘it was written down in the calendar. Oh whoops you didn’t know? Well, too bad!’_

_Okay, that last part was made up, but really, she might as well have said that._

_Breakfast now._

_*_

_I love the world right now. We had 2 ½ hours of ‘introductory tutor sessions’ today and it was awesome!_

_We had math, Art and History, in that order. The math teacher was alright, a little plain, but everything was easy to understand. He kinda started small and made the questions more and more difficult to see how we do. I think Clifford is struggling a little with the higher stuff._

_Art was fun, Mrs Wright is like, a crazy dinosaur diva. She showed us a couple famous pictures, asked us to tell her about them and then we spent the other half of the time we had (30 minutes) drawing a picture by ourselves._

_Now here is what is weird. I **draw** with my left hand, but I wrote with my **right** hand in both math and history._

_Our history teacher is cool by the way, he tells interesting stories and loves to debate. Cliff had a lot of fun with that. I don’t **love** it, but it’s okay._

_Mom just came home an hour after tutoring ended, so I had a little free time today. I should try to wake up earlier. Cliff just rises with sun apparently._

_*_

_I kept the hands thing to myself. After I looked it up, it seems that I’m just ambidextrous._

_*_

_If I try writing down historical fact or math problems with my left, I’m having more trouble remembering them in the first place. On the other hand, (haha) my right-hand drawings are really terrible._

_The internet isn’t helping._

_Perhaps I’ll tell my psych doc on Saturday. Or is this more something the rehabilitation guys should know? According to the calendar, Saturdays have been pronounced doctors day. That means: rehab, therapist, physical checkup with Dr Daniels and another CT scan._

_For each of us. All day appointment, basically._

 

_\----------------------------_

 

_ June 14 2018, Thursday _

_Slept downstairs with Clifford. No nightmares_

_I was bored after waking up, so I left Clifford to play his violin and went back upstairs. Thank god for video games, I think I might die of boredom without them._

_*_

_I’m done with my first game._

_Installing the other one now._

_Bored._

_*_

_Went outside today to check out the neighbourhood. Me and Cliff and Cordy and Dennis. That was from 5:30 to 7 PM I think. Mostly we just wandered the streets, but it was still nice I guess. We had fun._

_It’s 8 now, so I’m getting ready for bed._

_I think I’ll just write when something interesting happens. Or like, once a week or whenever I remember I should do this. The therapists said it was more for us than for them._

_Or maybe that’s another test or something?_

_*_

_~~its one in the morning~~ _

_~~my head hurts and I cant sleep~~ _

_~~had that dream again about the~~ _

_I calmed down. Nevermind that. I forgot what it was about._

 

_\----------------------------_

 

_ June 15 2018, Friday _

_Today we have another tutor meeting. The last one went pretty okay, and since it’s Friday, this one will go longer than the last. I’m fairly certain Will isn’t doing well, he told me his nightmares have been getting worse. I’m going to look up some solutions to that, perhaps I can help._

_*_

_Why does he have to be so proud? I just wanted to help, but he’s been so short-tempered lately._

_*_

_Classes went alright. We only really got one bore, Mr Stonefield. He just has this monotone, quiet voice, and it’s so hard to listen to. I like biology I think? But it’s so hard to tell with a teacher that’s so boring. Will has been doing way better than me in both chemistry and biology and I’m sure Mr Stonefield likes him more. I don’t mind a lot, but it’s still not nice._

_Well, Mrs Edmunds is the very opposite of Mr Stonefield, but she’s not exactly better. With Mr Stonefield, we weren’t able to say a word to each other without him hearing, while with Mrs Edmunds, we have to raise our voices so she can understand our answers. Where he is quiet and droning, she is loud and has a shrill voice. But at least she’s more in tune with her emotions._

_When we had to write a story at the end of the test tutoring, she chewed Will’s ear off about using more adjectives and imagery, and -  well, all in all, he did poorly with creative writing. After she was done he asked if he could try again. She agreed to let him try again on Monday._

_That’s when the tutoring really starts. I also need to ask Will why he kept frowning and flexing his hand._

_But first, about our Civics/Health teacher, Ms Carter. She’s pretty normal in comparison to the other two, but a lot more enthusiastic than any of the teachers we had so far, and that includes Mrs Wright. While she made both subjects seem very easy to understand, Will still seemed bored. He kept doodling on the notebook mom and dad got us._

_*_

_He told me that he was testing something with that story he wrote, apparently, he’s trying to find out if he’s ambidextrous? I told him to keep using his right hand so he could concentrate on the actual story more than his handwriting._

_He told me that his handwriting is as good with his right hand as it is with his left. He was a little aggressive, so I left it alone. Perhaps he’s having trouble with left and right? I saw him write a lot by now, I know he’s right-handed. Just now, when he doodled in the tutoring, he was using his right as well._

_*_

_I read another one of the books I got from mom. I finished one of dad’s, they’re the bigger ones, so I took two thinner ones from mom to make it fair. This one is more of a comic, and I read it the wrong way at first. It’s a Japanese comic apparently, but I don’t really get the story._

_Will might like it, though, he’s been bored lately._

 

_\----------------------------_

 

_ June 17 2018, Sunday _

_Whoops, didn’t have time to write yesterday._

_Here is Saturday_

_Rehab:  great, did sport, everything progressing normally according to the docs_

_Therapy: Thing about left and right hand may be related to brain damage, try asking CT people, also why are you so aggressive lately, tell me all about what makes you feel bad. BLEH_

_Dr D.: lots of prodding, results: you need to eat more and also get your shots, how about we do that right now (My arm hurts like a bitch, thanks a lot Doc!) And go to sleep earlier and have these pills._

_CT:  nothing is wrong. Everything is normal and my hands are fine. I hate these, the machine makes me get headaches. It’s like there’s a rubber band around the right half of my head._

_Now actually Sunday_

_We went shopping! Us kids, not our parents, but they did give each of us a fifty to spend, so now I have a new game that Cordelia suggested. Apparently those that I picked are ones you play once for the story and perhaps a second or third time after a while. This one is one you can play as long as you want, but she did warn me that it makes a day go by in what feels like an hour._

_Of course, with my current state being **permanently bored** , that is perfect._

_*_

_It’s 2 PM. I played that game. For 6 whole hours._

_I JUST FINISHED MAKING MY HOUSE LOOK NICE DAMN IT! (The game one, that is, obviously.)  
_

_I wouldn’t even have realized the time if I wasn’t stuck out here in the middle of nowhere without a bed. I had to dig myself into the ground and was about to wait out the night, when I realized that it is also deepest night in real life._

_Good night!_

 

_\----------------------------_

 

_ June 22 2018, Friday _

_Today we have Civics, Health and Art in that order._

_It’s nice that we still have a lot of free time, but I think Wills days now start at 10 and end somewhere around midnight, I can still hear him shuffle around upstairs when I go to sleep. It’s actually rather comforting. I’ve been sleeping a lot better, too._

_I like standing up earlier, around seven, so I can get the five hours of free time before the first teacher for the day arrives. We don’t really have many classes, just stuff like English, Math, Biology and Chemistry and the ones we have today. Oh, and history of course._

_I’m going to take a shower and get ready, perhaps read up a bit more on that gardening website I found. I don’t play violin before 9 now, after that it’s safer to wake Will. He seems to be doing better now, it’s like he regained his balance a bit. I don’t know what exactly it was, and he won’t talk about it, but he’s doing a lot better during classes than before._

_*_

_After classes, we had some spaghetti for lunch and then I went into the basement to look for gardening tools. I think I want to try my hand at this, and considering how our garden looks, I have a lot of starting points._

_For now, I just let my mom show me how to mow the lawn. She seemed very happy that I was volunteering to do that for her. It’s not very hard, but I did get sweaty after a bit. I figure it gets harder once you’re older._

_*_

_Dennis wrote into the Triple F’s if we wanted to have a sleepover at his place. Our parents said yes. That’s something to look forward to after all the doctor’s appointments on Saturday._

 

_\----------------------------_

 

_ June 24 2018, Sunday _

_I think I woke everyone up this morning. I slept longer than usual though, so it was already close to 10 AM anyways. Dennis and Cordelia took it really well, surprisingly, and told Will to go suck it up when he began to whine. After listening to Dennis rant about how early they have to get up for school normally, he was quick to abandon the more ‘drama queen’ aspect of his behaviour, but he was still a bit cranky, especially after he saw his face._

_Even though Cordelia helped him clean up the makeup after playing dress up with him yesterday, he still had residue of eyeliner and mascara now evenly spread over his eyelids. They’re cleaning it up with cotton swabs right now._

_*_

_I’ve got another one of those gut feelings/half-memories. After coming back from Dennis’ place, I went to work in the garden for a while, and it seems like I started humming a lullaby our mom used to sing us. She came outside to check on me and started to sing along. The lyrics felt right, but also a little off._

_It feels important, so I asked her to write down the lyrics for me:_

_[a note was stapled into the diary.]_

Come now my dear,

My sweetest little darling,

There is a dream that is calling your name.

Monsters and ghosts,

Are easily forgotten,

For you can hide in your warm little bed.

Sleep, now my dear,

you are called to the sheets.

Sleep, 'til the sun rises high,

until your dreams fill the air in the night.

Rest your tired eyes,

and you’ll sleep

through the night.

*

_It’s important, I **feel** it, but- I can’t touch it. It’s locked away. My therapist said to let these things go. Take note of them, but let them go. If my mind doesn’t want to remember, it’s best to leave it in ignorance until it can handle the memories._

_It’s hard, but I suppose he is right._

 

_\----------------------------_

 

_ June 29 2018, Friday _

_Yay Friday!_

_Tutoring is great against boredom, but only as long as it’s actually challenging. I still like Art the best, but the other classes are starting to get on nerves. Clifford isn’t doing as well anymore too, I think he suddenly realized that this is what the next month is going to be like that._

_I’m kinda bummed that Cordelia and Dennis are going on vacation with their parents, but at least only one of them will be gone at a time._

_Mom and Dad decided we should go get more things for our room next week, once we got more money._

_By the way, we got pocket money now! Starting this month, we’ll each get seventy dollars at the end of the month! We’d still get some things like cinema or clothes or school supplies from our parents, but if we go shopping for fun, that’s mostly on us.  (I still get the feeling like we could make puppy eyes at our parents and they’d pay for it even if it should be paid by us.)_

_According to our teachers, we are racing through the classes they prepared, and some of them, especially Ms Carter, are getting flustered. We are ahead of the schedule she prepared for us, and she’s running out of worksheets that are appropriate for us._

_*_

_I started collecting as many materials for artsy things as possible. I keep doodling in class and I’m doing well in Art, so I want to try drawing more in my free time. By now, I’ve made a list of all the things I’ll need in the future, since I still want to repaint that nightstand and the wall, I have an urgent need for a paper bin, and I’m kind of missing a carpet. I’ve been looking online too, but nothing feels right._

_*_

_I realized something, my doodles are getting simpler and simpler. I started out drawing Christmas trees (because, you know, the crash was during the Christmas trip?), but as time goes on, I’ve been putting less and less decorations on them and also stopped drawing out each branch._

_The dinosaur would tell me to “be ashamed, that tree deserves better, now go draw more details!”, but it feels better this way._

_Let’s try it again._

_*_

_I just realized I’ve been drawing with my right, and it looks amazing._

_\----------------------------_

 

**_ Monthly report: _ ** _Dr Hendrick Daniels_

**_ Date: _ ** _June 31 2018_

**_ Patient: _ ** _Clifford Taylor_

_Physical health is improving greatly since release on June 8 2018. According to his parents, he has picked up gardening, which resulted in a steady increase in stamina._

_Muscles are now only showing bare hints of the atrophy they suffered due to the coma and lack of movement. Flexibility is nearly restored to normal._

_C._ _Taylor is already showing signs of regaining his memory, however, it should be too early for this. His therapist has already told him this, as to keep his mind safe from possibly traumatizing events. Dr Bronson reports that he is very self-sufficient, as he managed to find ways to deal with a formerly mentioned fear of the dark within the span of a week. In comparison to W. Taylor (see attached file), he exhibits a generally more mature behaviour, which might be connected to the unusual growth of the neurological connections in the patient’s brain during the coma._

_The CT scans made after his release from the hospital show nothing unusual in comparison to the ones made during the hospitalization.*_

_The teachers, who’ve volunteered to teach both C. Taylor and W. Taylor, have reported that while both are exhibiting knowledge far beyond what they had been expecting, it appears that C. Taylor is more likely to have problems in the future._

 

\----------------------------------

 

**_ Monthly report: _ ** _Dr Hendrick Daniels_

**_ Date: _ ** _June 31 2018_

**_ Patient: _ ** _Willard Taylor_

_Physical health is improving well since release on June 8 2018. No other activities outside of rehabilitation, but still on track for restoration to normal physical health._

_Muscles are now only showing bare hints of the atrophy they suffered due to the coma and lack of movement. Flexibility is nearly restored to normal._

_W._ _Taylor is exhibiting signs of a mild case of Dissociative Identity Disorder. The disorder has not been addressed yet, as the patient was under a great deal of stress lately, and it may have worsened the condition. Dr O’Cain has been taking notes on two personalities, which interact closely with each other in a way that allows them to even appear simultaneously. The distinction between the two is difficult due to the symbiosis they have been exhibiting, with one more mature personality isolating the patient from emotional damage by distancing himself, while the other seems to be the original personality of the patient before the accident. It is still unclear if the child-like and borderline immature behaviour of this personality is due to the accident itself causing a personality that is inherently child-like or if there is room for maturity after the personality has had enough time to grow. Since the personalities have yet to notice each other’s existence due to the close relationship they have, they have yet to develop the need to set themselves apart from each other by name. According to Dr O’Cain, the easiest way to distinguish between the two is to pay close attention to the patient’s hands. The more mature personality has been primarily favouring his right hand, while the more child-like is clearly left-handed. Dr O’Cain asked for a copy of the CT scan of the patient’s brain to be sent to him for further examination._

_The CT scans made after his release from the hospital show nothing unusual in comparison to the ones made during the hospitalization.*_

_The teachers who’ve volunteered to teach both W. Taylor and C. Taylor (see attached file), have reported W. Taylor is doing a little better than C. Taylor, and that both could very well enter high school – perhaps only a grade below the one they would have been in if the accident had not put them into a comatose state - by the end of the summer break. Note that nearly all the teachers have stated that W. Taylor is right-handed. Only the Art and English teachers digress, with the Art teacher saying he is left-handed and the English teacher being convinced that he is indeed ambidextrous._

 

_*It would be great if a professional could be called to check the machine over. Results contradict psychological profile of the patients._


	15. A different Point of View

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops my finger slipped :O  
> This one's pretty short, so I'm just using is as a setup for tomorrow's chapter :D
> 
> ....Also, don't mind the mail adresses, I can't get them to not be links, I don't know where they go, if anywhere, so just.... let them be?

**Date:** July 3 2018 (Tuesday)

 **From:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** Willard Taylor – psychological condition

Dear Mr and Mrs Taylor,

I’m writing to you to inform you that Willard’s therapist has discovered that your son is suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder.

The disorder is not very severe or noticeable at this point, but there is a possibility that it may worsen over time. Dr O’Cain has not yet addressed the issue with your son, due to his slightly volatile mood in the past week. The disorder itself is manifesting in an unusual way, and we are unsure if this is due to the extremely fast recovery time that both of your children have had after awakening from their comatose state, or due to some other unknown factors.

I would like to ask your opinion on the matter of whom should address Willard about the disorder.  Dr O’Cain has expressed concern for your familial relationship suffering if the parents were to reveal something such as this to their child and the patient reacting badly to this revelation. The risk of your son taking the news badly exists, but Dr O’Cain has reported that he is becoming increasingly aware of it himself, which appears to be the cause for his behaviour this last week. Your son’s therapist has therefore asked if he has your permission to talk about the issue with Willard, since the longer he stays in his current state of uncertainty, the higher the possibility of him finding out on his own and having a mental breakdown becomes.

I do not wish to worry you, as of right now everything is still perfectly fine, this is just to stress that Willard must not be kept in the dark about this and that the sooner he is told, the better he will take it.

Best regards,

Dr Hendrick Daniels

 

 

 **Date:** July 3 2018 (Tuesday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: Willard Taylor – psychological condition

Dear Dr. Daniels,

First off, we hope you planned on providing us more information on the disorder. We do not want to take any risks by being in the dark about this, and it would be greatly appreciated if you could at the very least send us the specific information about Will’s condition. Without this, we are getting increasingly more worried that we might be missing something crucial that our child needs.

We trust Dr O’Cain to address the problem with Will, but we would also like help to request help for the aftermath if he takes it badly.

Best regards,

Mr and Mrs Taylor

 

 

 **Date:** July 4 2018 (Wednesday)

 **From:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: RE: Willard Taylor – psychological condition

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Taylor,

Of course, you will find details of your son’s condition, as well as basic information on Dissociative Identity Disorder in general, in the attached file of this mail. Note that his DID seems to be non-conforming with the general cases of the disorder, is also very mild and appears to be completely harmless for now. More information will be relayed to your family as a whole during his weekly therapy session on Saturday.

We would like for all four of you to be present at this meeting, Clifford’s therapy session for this week will be moved from 2 PM to 3 PM, and he is to come with you to Will’s weekly therapy session at 2 PM.

And needless to say, I will obviously be at your disposal should any severe difficulties arise after this session. You can always reach me per mail, I will answer as soon as possible.

Best regards,

Dr Hendrick Daniels

 

\-----------------------------------

**Date:** July 8 2018 (Sunday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **Subject:** Willard is doing worse – how do we help?

Dear Dr Daniels,

Immediately after returning home from therapy yesterday, Will has locked himself in his room and has not come downstairs for dinner. We know we are expected to give him some space, but we still worry. He has not come down this morning for breakfast either and has kept his door closed to both of us. Clifford has also grown anxious for his wellbeing and has tried bringing him food. Willard doesn’t talk to any of us, but he seems more receptive to his brother and after Clifford left him the food in front of his room and left, he took it inside and relocked the door.

Is there anything else we can do? Do you have any suggestions on how to help him?

Best regards,

Mr and Mrs Taylor

 

 

 **Date:** July 8 2018 (Sunday)

 **From:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: Willard is doing worse – how do we help?

Dear Mr and Mrs Taylor,

It will be alright. At the very least, Willard is eating, even if you do not see him do it. If for now, he prefers to not talk to anyone, that is fine as well.

My suggestion would be more for you than for him, to be frank. Take some time to imagine yourself in your son’s shoes. Here we have a child who has, in his eyes, come into existence at the age of seventeen, with knowledge everyone around him tells him he should not have. He struggles with many things right now, the contradiction of his physical and mental age, the loss of half his field of vision, a life he does not recall and now he was told that, essentially, he is not even a whole person, but two separate, if interacting ones.

It is important that you do not pressure him into anything right now, and if his way of dealing with it is by isolation, then let him have it. Keep putting his meals in front of his room and monitor how much of it he’s eating if possible. Do not crowd around his room and give him the time to retrieve the food before returning.

It might take him a while, but I promise he will get through this. His reaction at the therapy session itself has shown that he is in control of himself and that he is able to work through this on his own if that is his preferred way of handling the situation.

Best regards,

Dr Hendrick Daniels

 

 

 **Date:** July 9 2018 (Monday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: RE: Willard is doing worse – how do we help?

Dear Dr Daniels,

Clifford told us Will talked to him this morning about the classes. Will wants to still partake in the lessons, but he told him that he is wary of facing anyone. We are unsure what to do here, are we supposed to just stay out of sight? We could ask the teachers to hold the classes upstairs, so that he can listen in through the door, but we would first like to ask your opinion on this.

Clifford also asked about letting their friends come over for a visit to talk to Will. Is this a good idea?

Best regards,

Mr and Mrs Taylor

**Date:** July 9 2018 (Monday)

 **From:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: Willard is doing worse – how do we help?

Dear Mr and Mrs Taylor,

Your idea for classes is what I would have suggested as well. If possible, try to get Willard’s opinion on this as well, it is important to include him in matters concerning himself.

The same can be said for Clifford’s idea, get Willard’s opinion first. If he wants to see his friends, of course, you can let them come over, but make sure it’s also what he wants.

On another note, how is Clifford doing? He took the news fairly well from what I could gather, but it is important to keep an eye on him as well.

Best regards,

Dr Hendrick Daniels

**Date:** July 9 2018 (Monday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: RE: Willard is doing worse – how do we help?

Dear Dr Daniels,

Classes went well, Clifford managed to establish a way of non-verbal communication with Will, with us asking yes-or-no questions and Will answering by knocks, since he is still hesitant to talk to us.

Clifford has become very involved in taking care of his twin, bringing him food and making sure us adults don’t go upstairs too often. If I understand correctly, Will is leaving his room only if he is sure no one is around to sue the bathroom.

We are still worried, but at least he is still taking care of his physical needs, so it is relieving to hear this even if we haven’t seen him for a long while now. That is all for now, we are certain that we can handle the situation for now.

Best regards,

Mr and Mrs Taylor

\--------------------------------------------------------

 

 **Date:** July 13 2018 (Friday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **Subject:** Request for additional therapy sessions

Dear Dr. Daniels,

After letting Clifford into his room yesterday evening (which we were unaware of until now), Will has left his room this morning. He apologized for worrying us and we assured him that it was fine. He has asked us to make a request for additional therapy sessions for him.

Best regards,

Mr and Mrs Taylor

**Date:** July 13 2018 (Friday)

 **From:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: Request for additional therapy sessions

Dear Mr and Mrs Taylor,

It is good to hear that! I am very happy for you.

Regarding the therapy sessions, how about Wednesdays? We can have two sessions a week, one on Saturdays and one on Wednesdays, perhaps one additional family therapy session once a month? I am sure your Mrs Taylor will agree with me on this.

Would Clifford like to have additional sessions as well?

Best regards,

Dr Hendrick Daniels

**Date:** July 14 2018 (Saturday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: RE: Request for additional therapy sessions

Dear Dr Daniels,

Thank you very much.

While Clifford seems to be doing well, he’s not letting Will out of his sight. We are unsure if it would be better for them to stay together all the time or if we should separate them every now and when. Will seems indifferent to any separation, but the past week has really worn Clifford out. We were able to remind him to take care of himself too, so nothing serious happened, but we fear that he might be putting his brother's wellbeing above his own.

Also, recently Clifford has been spacing out a bit more often, staring at nothing with a far off look. He said he was fine, but we wanted to ask for your opinion anyways. Is that within the range of what could be expected after their coma, or is it something we should worry about?

We would like him to have an additional session, yes. But perhaps on a different day? Just to see if they can handle an hour or two apart from each other. They will have to when they go back to school next month, after all.

Best regards,

Mr and Mrs Taylor

**Date:** July 14 2018 (Saturday)

 **From:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: Request for additional therapy sessions

Dear Mr and Mrs Taylor,

If you wish, I can notify Dr. O’Cain and Dr. Bronson to make today a joined family therapy session to talk about the last weeks and discuss the next sessions. I cannot make any decisions concerning the separation of the twins, and I want you to remember to ask the boys about this as well, and explain your concerns. Personally, I believe that they are able to understand and make their own decisions.

Also, Clifford spacing out is probably the only normal behaviour we have seen from your boys so far. It is nothing to worry about, and he should be getting better on his own, but I will still notify Dr Bronson of this.

Best regards,

Dr Hendrick Daniels

\-----------------------------------------

**Date:** July 28 2018 (Saturday)

 **From:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** Back to school test for W. and C. Taylor

Dear Mr and Mrs Taylor,

The headmaster of the school you had picked out for Willard and Clifford to attend called me. Mrs. Wilkerson requested to have separate evaluations, concerning the grade we believe is best for your children, from all her teachers, us doctors and from the parents as well.

Of course, there will still be the test itself, but this is the initial ‘vote’ of sorts that decides for which grade they will be tested.

I want them to succeed just as much as you do, and I allowed myself as your family doctor to ask your personal opinion on this before I give my own evaluation.

Best regards,

Dr Hendrick Daniels

**Date:** July 28 2018 (Saturday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: Back to school test for W. and C. Taylor

Dear Dr Daniels,

So far, nearly all of their teachers have said that right now they are nearly on the level of an average eleventh 11th grader. By the time the test comes, they should be able to pass one meant for the 11th grade. Clifford is having more problems, but he should manage with some studying beforehand. They’d refuse being in different grades though.

Getting Clifford used to separate rooms for classes is going to be hard enough, the solo-therapy sessions this week showed us that. We wouldn’t want to add different grades to it, and from what I’ve gathered, Willard is willing to go into a lower grade if he can stay with Clifford.

So, essentially we would be happy if they can finish school at an age that won’t raise eyebrows, and 11th grade is the one they would have been in at this age, so we would be happy if they could try for this grade. If they fail the test, what would the procedure be?

Best regards,

Mr and Mrs Taylor

**Date:** July 29 2018 (Sunday)

 **From:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: RE: Back to school test for W. and C. Taylor

Dear Mr and Mrs Taylor,

I would suggest rearranging the tutoring lessons in a way that is more similar to what they’ll have to get used to after summer break. Let them have some of the lessons together, and some in different rooms.

I will agree with you on the grade, but I cannot say the same for all the teachers. We will have to wait and see.

And if the boys fail the test, Mrs Wilkerson has prepared tests for the 10th and 9th grade as well, which would delay their first day of school by a week each. If they fail both, which I highly doubt concerning the intelligence and learning ability they have displayed so far, you would have to look into a Middle school for them. I would just like to stress again that I doubt this will happen. From all the reports I have received, I can surmise that they definitely belong into high school.

Best regards,

Dr Hendrick Daniels

 

 

 **Date:** July 29 2018 (Sunday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [dr.daniels@hospitmail.com](mailto:dr.daniels@hospitmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: RE: RE: Back to school test for W. and C. Taylor

Dear Dr Daniels,

Thank you very much for your support. You have helped us a lot in the past few months, not to mention the past decade.

We have faith in our boys as well, no need to reassure us of that. Still, it is nice to hear other people say it. It’s often hard to discern whether or not one is blinded by their parental love for their children.

Best regards,

Mr and Mrs Taylor

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------

**Date:** July 30 2018 (Monday)

 **From:** [eleanorewilkerson@edupiedmont.com](mailto:eleanorewilkerson@edupiedmont.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** Testing for Clifford Taylor and Willard Taylor

Dear Mr and Mrs Taylor,

The testing for Willard and Clifford Taylor starts at 9 AM on August 5 (Sunday), in room number 2-4-15. Each test will be 90 minutes long, with an hour-long break between each.

We look forward to seeing you then.

Sincerely,

Eleanore Wilkerson

Headmaster of Piedmont Highschool

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

**Date:** August 8 2018 (Wednesday)

 **From:** [eleanorewilkerson@edupiedmont.com](mailto:eleanorewilkerson@edupiedmont.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** Requesting update on new students

Dear Mr and Mrs Taylor,

We are happy to inform you that Willard and Clifford Taylor have proven to be able to be admitted on August 15 into the 11th grade of our high school.

Also, we would like to ask you to consider additional tutoring for Clifford Taylor, since he might be having more trouble keeping up than Willard Taylor. For a guaranteed safe admittance into the school, we would like to get an update on your son’s current mental state from their doctors, if you would please relay the message to them.

Sincerely,

Eleanore Wilkerson

Headmaster of Piedmont Highschool

 

**Date:** August 8 2018 (Wednesday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [eleanorewilkerson@edupiedmont.com](mailto:eleanorewilkerson@edupiedmont.com)

 **Subject:** RE: Requesting update on new students

Dear Mrs Wilkerson,

Thank you again for dealing so well with our situation. We assure you that our sons are perfectly fine, but of course we have asked the doctors to send you their own input.

Regards,

Mr and Mrs Taylor.

 

\------------------------------------------------------

**Date:** August 12 2018 (Sunday)

 **From:** [hendrickdaniels@yahoo.com](mailto:hendrickdaniels@yahoo.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** Fingers crossed

Hello Sam and Annie,

I hope I don’t disturb you this late, I only wanted to tell you that I told Mrs. Wilkerson my honest opinion. I am certain there won’t be any more inquires about the wellbeing or safety of the boys.

I wish you all the best of luck in the following days.

Best wishes,

Hendrick Daniels

 

 

 **Date:** August 12 2018 (Sunday)

 **From:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **To:** [hendrickdaniels@yahoo.com](mailto:hendrickdaniels@yahoo.com)

 **Subject:** RE: Fingers crossed

Hello Hendrick,

Nice to hear from you outside of the office again. I’m sorry we’ve been keeping you so busy these past months, but know that we’re very grateful to you and your dedication to our boys.

And thank you for telling her off! (We hope it was in a friendly way, we wouldn’t want to ruin the good terms we’re on for now.) She was so suspicious of Will, he didn’t even do anything.

They have been getting much better, we believe Clifford is by now fully aware which of Wills personalities is showing the most. The two of us are having troubles seeing the changes at all, they’ve become so very subtle after all. We thought we were doing well at first, but it seems that they are only obvious when Will is upset. Clifford has been zoning out less as well, and while he’s still slightly anxious when he is alone, he is doing better than before.

We hope they have a good start. It shouldn’t be too bad, we picked the same school their friends attend after all, but a parent can’t help worrying.

Best wishes,

Sam and Annie

**Date:** August 12 2018 (Sunday)

 **From:** [hendrickdaniels@yahoo.com](mailto:hendrickdaniels@yahoo.com)

 **To:** [samtaylor@gmail.com](mailto:samtaylor@gmail.com)

 **Subject:** RE: RE: Fingers crossed

I am happy to hear that they’ve been doing better. I wouldn’t use this word normally, but their recovery was a downright, one-of-a-kind miracle.

Sadly, I must admit that before that warm summer day five years ago, I was preparing to break the news that they were gone. But then that sudden spike in activity no one had expected! Things like that don’t happen after a five-year-long coma such as theirs.

Your boys are strong, one-of-a-kind survivors. I am 100% certain that they can handle anything the world may throw at them.

Best of luck tomorrow,

Hendrick Daniels

 

\-----------------------------------------

 

Sam closed his laptop and leant back in his office chair. Annie sat beside him in a second chair that had become part of the office for the past month. They could hear soft violin music coming from the room above, and they were sure the younger of their boys was up in his room as well, most likely playing games or watching cartoons, a hobby he had picked up recently.

“It’s 9 PM, we should tell them to go to bed.” Annie reached for the phone that was on the desk. They used to have two wireless phones in the house before, but in the last weeks, they added a third for Will, which could be called separately as well as from the phones downstairs.

While she told Will that it was time to go to bed, Sam gestured to her that he was going to tell Clifford the same.

They would have to wake early tomorrow after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BY THE WAY:
> 
> Since this and the last chapter skipped a lot of the summer break, I have plans to start a Oneshot collection connected to this story, so if there's anything you'd like to read more about, please tell me :)  
> So far, I already have four chapter concepts, and I'm just gonna throw the titles out there and let you decide with which one you'd like me to start:  
> (A) I believe I can fly!  
> (B) Hello, can I hear Me?  
> (C) Spaced Out for a bit there, nevermind...  
> (D) One Eyed Horror
> 
> ...And no, you won't get more than the titles from me ;P
> 
> With that, I'll see you tomorrow :D  
> Holly~♥


	16. Stick to your side, boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and welcome back :3
> 
> Things are finally picking up a bit :D
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter and have a nice start into the week tomorrow!  
> Holly~♥

It was a beautiful morning, the sun shining through the few scattered clouds in the sky and the first birds singing, their songs carried by a fresh breeze.

_Bleep-Bleep-Bleep! Bleep-Bleep-Bleep!_

The sleeping form of a seventeen-year-old boy rolled over in his bed.

‘Oh god noooo….’

_Bleep-Bleep-Bleep!_

He groaned, the last remnants of sleep leaving him behind as he was roused from his rest. ‘I’m gonna murder whoever created that thing.’

_Bleep-Blee-_

The teen had rolled over and, using the momentum, brought his hand down on the large button on the top of the alarm that would silence its cries. The alarm clock, which had been recently added to his room along several other things, was sitting next to his journal and some papers on top of his childhood nightstand - which he still hadn’t repainted yet.

_Ding-Dong! Ding-Dong! Ding Dong!_

“God fucking dam it- fuckin’ phone – school- urghkh….” He grumbled as he kicked back his comforter – with a pattern reminiscent of some M.C. Escher drawing – and stumbled across the room towards the desk, where his mobile phone’s alarm was ringing. Rubbing sleep from his eyes, he slumped into his chair and grabbed his phone to silence it.

**6:25 AM             School**

He put it back down and let his gaze sweep over his room. It had changed in the past month, since they had went shopping a few more times. The folding chair from his and Clifford’s first sleepover was still there, next to the desk, just covered by a pile of clothing. Some of it was still wearable, but there were also some garments that hadn’t found their way into the brand new laundry basket yet, which was standing in the corner where the roof had slanted down, next to his wardrobe. He eyed his backpack, which was sitting to his right side and was waiting for its first day of use.

_Bleep-Bleep-Bleep!_

“Urgh!” Will stood energetically and crossed the room in two long strides to stab his right pointer finger into the tiny ‘off’-button of his alarm clock. The big button on the top was actually a decoy, acting as a snooze button and merely delaying the alarm for five minutes.

Taking a breath, the teen opened the drawer and put the pencils and blank papers from the top of the nightstand inside, before sorting out what he drew the last night and putting it on the shelf below the nightstand. His dad had installed a light on the wall next to his bed, so that he could draw on his bed before sleeping. He found it to be very relaxing. His clock was hung up right next to the lamp. Against the wall at the foot of his bed, he had set up the bookshelf, which was still relatively bare except for the few games he had, the decorative glass eye and the book box. He usually kept his journal in there, he’d just had something to write right before bed, so he had taken it out. Just as he had returned it to its original place in the book-box, another device demanded his attention.

Doodly-Doo Doo, Doo-Doo Doo! 

He reached for the phone sitting on its charging station on one of the lower shelves.

“What.”

The phone had been bought so his parents wouldn’t have to run upstairs to tell him things all the time, but he was sure it was so they could bother him more than they would otherwise.

“Good morning to you as well, brother.” Clifford’s voice rang out.

“’Good morning’, my ass. It’s still night time.”

“I do see the sun outside.”

“Can you feel it burning your eyes?” he glimpsed outside his window, catching sight of the rising sun to the right of it and quickly drew the dark red curtains shut. Another new addition. “That’s it’s way of telling you it doesn’t want to be up either.”

“Come downstairs already, we leave in an hour and I know how long it takes you to get dressed.”

“Yes, because _I_ actually care about what I wear.” As long as he was actually wearing it, he didn’t say as he glanced at his pile of forgotten clothes.

“Yeah, yeah. I already showered, so the bathrooms are both free for now. Better hurry before dad wakes up.” With that, the older twin hung up.

Will immediately rushed downstairs to the ground floor bathroom, which saw the least use in the mornings, since the rest of the family woke at different enough times to all use the second one that was on the same floor they all had their bedrooms on. The ground floor bathroom didn’t have a bathtub like the other one, but it did have a shower. So Will rushed past the entryway to the kitchen - ignoring his twin’s complaints and calls for him to put on a shirt – and locked the bathroom door behind him before starting to get ready.

 

\------------------------------------

 

Clifford was astounded how long it had taken Will to get ready. After all, he had been awake at 6 AM, had showered, gotten dressed in the outfit he had laid out the day before and had eaten breakfast, during which he had called his twin to wake up. He and Annie both enjoyed the early morning hours, and had grown used to spending some time on the couch reading while drinking a cup of tea and waiting for the family to wake up.

But Will always managed to take nearly three times as long as he did getting ready. Today, he had spent half an hour contemplating his outfit. Clifford had been standing in front of his closed door for the past five minutes now, and was not sure whether to laugh at what he was hearing or to cry over the lost time. He had witnessed this sort of thing before, but surprisingly enough, his twin was very good at pulling himself together when he was with anyone else.

_“That shirt looks way too boring, you wanna look like a nobody Willard?”_

_“But the other one just doesn’t go with the pants, people would think I’m an emo.”_

_“And sure, we-I could talk about how_ that _just doesn’t go with_ that _,”_ Clifford was sure there was some sort of pointing going on here. _“but what about these? That’d look okay, right?”_

_“….I suppose. Looks a bit flashy though….”_

He couldn’t take it anymore and went inside, quickly taking note of the situation. His twins right hand was holding up a pair of tight black jeans, the left held onto a simple blue one.

“Can I help out?” he eyed the contents of his twin’s wardrobe that had been spread all over the floor in front of him.

“No, your fashion sense is too nerdy.” Came Wills sharp-tongued response right after he’d been startled. He sighed immediately after. “It just doesn’t work right now.” He amended.

The older twin eyed the yellow button-up shirt on the floor right in front of them, and the small pile of chokers sitting on it. There were only three or four, but Will had gotten into collecting them.

“Well, to ease your mind, I don’t think it’s too flashy. It suits you.”

“Thanks, but I don’t wanna stand out too much.” Will sighed and eyed the blue jeans before his head turned back to the right. “And if I wore the blue ones, I’d have to pick another shirt, and the ones that _would_ work just look either boring or emo.”

“You mean the ones that _don’t_ work?”

“No, those are just…indescribable.” Will’s wrinkled his nose.

“Then just wear the black pants to that shirt, you know that looks good on you.” Clifford stated.

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Will groaned. “And now I’m getting a headache.” he set down the blue pair of pants and massaged his temple. “Fine, fine.” He made a shooing motion at his twin. “Get out, I’m getting ready now. I’ll be downstairs in ten.”

“Okay, if you’re not, I’ll come back upstairs and drag you down.” Clifford closed the door again and went back downstairs to return to the rest of his tea.

Coming to terms with his twin’s condition had been fairly easy for him. The biggest problem had been the first week. He had known that Will’s absence made him anxious, he just hadn’t been aware to what extent. The separation had been worse for him than the actual disorder, after all, this was still his twin, and they still had to stick together. Will had told him a week or so ago that by now, he had it almost completely under control. From what Clifford had gathered, the switches between the two personalities were more pronounced whenever the younger twin was stressed or taken by surprise. Another thing he had observed was that the right-handed Will the defensive and calculating one (also the one that had written during the tests), and that the left-handed one was a little more sensible and creative.

Will wouldn’t tell him what he did in that week he locked himself up in his room.

But then he again, Clifford hadn’t told him about the memories either. Or anyone really. He felt it was unfair to Will that he would not only be unable to remember anything, but additionally had to deal with a personality disorder.

While Clifford was beginning to regain some of his memories.

It had started with some very bizarre and abstract ones, and he was by now certain that those were the result of some fever dream or something he must have had during the coma. After a while the snippets of voices he could sometimes hear evolved to full on memories, which often left him standing absent-mindedly in the middle of a room. He considered himself lucky that he had been able to play it off as ‘just spacing out’ or ‘I thought I heard something’ for so long.

Those few little memories of childhood promises or books he read or songs he liked were nice, but he feared Will might resent him for recalling their past while he could not. Even if what he had remembered of him so far told him that he wouldn’t mind, the fear was still there. He didn’t want to be alone again.

He shook his head. ‘That wasn’t even real, that was just a nightmare.’ The teen had been having difficulties at first, separating his real memories from the ones he had somehow gotten during the coma. In some cases, this was fairly easy, for example, being a tree was not something that fit into reality all that well. Others, like the one where he was running through a forest at night, looking for his twin, were still ones he was uncertain about. He brushed it aside by now, but at one point he had had a feeling that he had dreamt of Will dying at some point, but he couldn’t connect it to anything.

 

\---------------------------------------

 

At 8 AM, their parents parked their car close to the boy’s new school. In the future, Annie would drop them off on her way to work, but for the first day, Sam came along as well. Apparently he had something to do in the area where their mom worked as well. They had been here a couple of times before, to have a look around and to take their tests, but now there were teenagers everywhere.

Cordelia and Dennis had given them a rough explanation of the people at the school. Mostly indifferent, some bullies, some sweethearts, mostly clear to recognize cliques and everyone having an air of ‘I-really-don’t-want-to-be-here’. From what the twins could see from the car, this was a fairly accurate description.

Their friends had each given them their own opinion on clothing fit for school, with Cordelia warning them in an overplayed ominous tone: “Do not dress in a way that makes you look like a nerd, it paints a target on your back for the few bullies we have.” Dennis on the other hand, had been more realistic and told them to “just dress normal, if you are flashy like Deli is sometimes, but don’t have the snark or wit or physical strength to keep pretentious assholes at bay, then you’ll be toast. Socially, that is.”

In the end, they had both struck a compromise, since Will was more prone to dressing flashy and Clifford sometimes dressed in a way that made even Dennis want to punch him. This morning had been one of many instances where one of them had helped balance the other one out a bit concerning their style. Now, Will was wearing the yellow button up with the tight black jeans and one of the studded leather chokers he had. He’d even gone so far to put on a bit of makeup, the incredibly thin line of eyeliner almost unnoticeable. Clifford was wearing a simple black shirt and brown pants. Not too boring, but something that he was certain would make him blend in.

They said their goodbyes to their parents before getting out of the car and watching them drive off.

“What are you thinking?” Clifford asked Will as they stared at the building. This had become a regular question between the two.

“Hmm. A mix of ‘Finally some other people!’ and ‘God, what did I do to deserve this?’.” Will tilted his head from one side to the other as he spoke. “Also, where do you think we can find Cordy and Dennis?”

The older twin began to walk towards the school. “I think they said they’d meet us during recess.”

“That’s after Math right?” Will shrugged his backpack halfway off to dig for the sheet of paper that contained his timetable, before scanning it for the extra symbols and notes he made on it. “So, the two of us have Math, then we have English and after that we’re on our own for two periods. We can meet up during that free period at 1 PM-”

 “13:25 PM.” Clifford had taken out his folded up timetable from his back pocket and was also looking it over.

“-yeah ,yeah, smartass. Then one more period alone and we’re free to go, right?” He waved his timetable at his twin, who took it off of him.

“Yes.” Clifford gestured for Will to walk ahead and put the paper back into his twins backpack as they walked.

Finding the correct room was not very hard, especially since they had taken the tour with the principal. The layout of the school was in a way that made the room numbers basically act as directions. For math class, they would have to get to room 1-4-11, which essentially meant 1st floor, corridor number 4, room 11. When they got to the classroom, a bunch of other students were waiting in front of the locked door.

For safety reasons, most of the rooms at the school were locked when there were no classes held inside. All teachers had a key to open them from the outside, and anyone could get out from inside, but if a student wanted to get in while class was already in session, someone would have to open the door from the inside for them. The Mrs. Wilkerson, the principal, had mentioned in passing that the amount of tardy students had greatly decreased since those locks had been installed and the janitors apparently had less to clean up as well, since students wouldn’t ‘go wild’ in the classroom during recess and free periods anymore.

In the ten minutes they waited for the teacher to arrive, they had leaned on a wall and had each started doing their own thing to pass the time. Will was currently texting with Cordelia to ask her where she wanted them to meet later, while Clifford had taken to watching the passing or waiting students as he listened to some music. When Clifford saw a teacher approach room 1-4-11, he nudged his twin and pushed himself off of the wall. It wasn’t the same teacher who had been their tutor for the summer break, but it would probably be fine. He had been a little boring anyways.

As the students streamed into the classroom, the boys lingered behind a bit, neither completely sure on how to proceed. Luckily, the teacher spotted them and came over as the other students milled about the room, searching for a seat.

“You’re Willard and Clifford, correct?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

He nodded and waved a hand towards the class. “Just go sit wherever you like.” Then he turned towards his desk and jotted something down on a piece of paper.

The twins shot each other a glance before looking for a seat. Clifford eyed two free seats at the front. Will took note of this and shook his head before tilting his chin at two seats in the back, which were immediately taken by two girls. He frowned.

“Let’s just sit in the middle.” Clifford nudged him towards the only two seats left, that were right next to each other.

The teacher introduced himself as Mr Witt, and after an initial round introduction moved through the classroom, the twins’ first class truly started.

 

\-----------------------

 

“I think it really isn’t the teacher's fault.” Will reflected after class.

They had gone out to the yard and claimed a bench under a tree as their own. Will was lounging on it, arms crossed behind his head and looking up at the foliage dancing in the breeze. Cliff had crossed his legs and arms both, and was observing how the other students were spending their break.

“Hm?”

“I think math is just naturally boring.” Will reiterated his remark.

“You’re thinking right, my man!” Cordelia had snuck up on them from behind. She pushed at Clifford’s shoulder, so he would move over, and then vaulted over the back of the bench to sit next to him, one leg tucked up to her chest. She rested her chin on her knee and tilted her head at them.

“Some subjects have a stigma for a reason. Math is rarely fun, since the few people who really like mathematics have better things to do then become teachers. Art often has really funny and weird teachers, getting a good grade in both Art and P.E. is pretty easy unless you make the teachers hate you.” She shrugged. “The only subject I know that has more variety to its teachers is English.”

“We have English next, but we don’t know what the initials on the timetable mean.” Clifford pulled out his timetable again and showed it to her. Besides the subject and room numbers, there were three capitalized letters indicating their teachers. For Mr Witt, the initials were WTT, which told them that they would have to know the teachers first to actually get behind that sort of code.

“Oh, you have Mr Robertson. He’s okay. Nothing special really, but he isn’t going to have an aneurism if you talk in class. Mrs Burt does that, she’s my English teach’ this year.” She handed the timetable back to the raven haired twin.

“Where is Dennis, by the way?” Will asked her.

She shrugged. “Maybe he couldn’t make it?” she checked her phone. “Yeah, apparently he forgot his lunch, so he ran to the store to get himself something to eat before the break is over. That reminds me.” She pulled out her own lunch and began munching on some apple slices.

“You should get some food into you as well, class can rob you of all your energy within just an hour.” She grinned and offered them some of the apple.

Will nodded and accepted her offer with a grin, while Clifford declined and bent down to get his own lunch from his backpack. For the next few minutes, the three friends just sat there, eating their respective lunches and occasionally trading an apple slice for a piece of orange or vice versa.

When the ringing of a bell indicated that it was time to get a move on to get to the next class, they packed up and followed the horde of students heading back inside. The red-haired girl bid them goodbye before splitting off from the stream of students. The boys continued up the stairs and to the English class on the second floor.

Will immediately dove back into the contents of his phone as they waited. Cliff, however, who had been keeping an eye on the other students, felt more than saw a quizzical glance being directed at them. But when he scanned the area from where it had come from, he couldn’t find the source. A group of girls was giggling about something one of them had shown the others on their phone, but none of them were looking their way. So he dismissed it and plugged in his headphones before selecting some music to listen to before class.

Following the English teacher’s arrival was pretty much the same course of events they had already witnessed in math class, but Mr Robertson seemed to count taking attendance as an introduction.

As the names were rattled off, Clifford tapped the eraser of his pen against the notebook he had laying in front of him repeatedly. Will was using the time to idly doodle on his.

“Anna Oakfield?”

She raised her arm.

“Sam Parker?”

“Yeah.”

“Mason Pines?”

“Yes.”

“Abigail Quarter?”

“Here.”

“Carlos Salgado?”

The boy raised his hand.

“Jacqueline Smith?”

“Yes.”

 “Willard Taylor?”

“Just Will. Yeah.” He affirmed as he doodled. Clifford noted that he had switched hands – he was now sketching out the rough shape of a face with his right.

“Clifford Taylor?”

“Present.”

“Haven’t heard that one for a while. Daniel Tinkleberry?”

“Yes.” The boy grumbled as a burst of giggles went through the class.

After every student was accounted for – with the exception of some girl that hadn’t heard the bell and who showed up a few minutes too late – Mr Robertson went to the board and got started with the class.

About halfway through, Clifford looked over to his twin who had been scribbling furiously into his notebook. But it appeared he was merely covering the few notes he copied from the board with doodles, however, most of them had been crossed out or scribbled over. He saw a big black smudge where he had been sketching that face earlier.

The raven haired twin chewed on his lip. Will was more fidgety than usual, was he also worried about the next few periods?

‘I thought it would bother me more than him to be apart, but perhaps he’s anxious about it as well?’

He resolved to ask him about it in the next break and went back to listen to the teacher for now.

“- will need to get this book by next week and it would be even better if you actually read the first chapter, hm?” Mr Robertson shot the class a look over the rim of his classes. After the chuckles and murmuring had died down a little, he continued. “Because it would be beneficial to actually know what you’re going to be writing on. It’s not expensive, and it’s not hard to read, so do yourselves the favour and read it.” He paused before continuing. “You are going to work in groups later on and analyse a chapter per group, before making a presentation for the class, so be prepared for that. Also, before you ask, I don’t care if you do it on a poster or digitally, but you will have to make a handout for the rest of the class to use later as a reference to your chapter.”

He continued on, giving them details on the syllabus and the literature they were going to need, before looking at the clock and declaring that they were free to go.

And just like that, the students rushed to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Clifford had only managed to get his notebook into his backpack when the others began moving past his desk. When it appeared that there was a free space to stand up in, he lifted up his bag and pushed himself up. Only to accidentally hit another teen that had been rushing past with his bag.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” he rushed to apologize, but the brunette waved it off.

“Nah, don’t worry, it happens. Sorry for running into you. See you around!” he swiftly replied before literally running out the classroom.

“Well, that guy doesn’t want to be friends with ya, bro!” Will chuckled before nudging him with his shoulder and heading for the door as well.

The bench they had sat on earlier was taken now, but after a minute of looking around - as well as messaging their friends, of course – they met up at the main doors.

“What are you up to?” Clifford asked when he saw Cordelia peeking around the corner and into the building every once in a while.

“You know how all the classrooms are locked during break and junk? Because there had been trouble with vandalism?”

“Yeah, so?” Will raised a brow.

“There is always two teachers on literal patrol during break.” She giggled. “And, on days with bad weather mostly, it’s kind of a game to go in and see who can stay hidden from the teach’s and spend the most of the break inside.” She took another look inside. “This is important research I’m doing for the colder days, because every teacher does their patrol thingie in a different way, and that guy-” she nodded her head at the teacher standing in the foyer. “- has not moved since break started, and probably will not do so for the rest of it either, which means you’d have to stay inside in the first place, because otherwise you won’t get back inside.”

Clifford frowned at her, trying to make sense of what she was talking about.

“So you’re saying that you want to sneak past the teachers? Teachers that are on the lookout for possible vandals coming inside during break?”

“Exactly!” she grinned. “It’s fun, especially when you play with more than one group.”

“Erm…?”

Dennis cut in. “You see, the school has three staircases, right?”

“It does?” Will wondered.

“Yep, the main one most students use, right here in the middle,” he pointed at the door they were standing next to. “as well as one on the end of the hallways 1 and 3 and one at the end of 2 and 4. And the teachers actually have a sort of set routine they do when they ‘go on patrol’. We have some that work together and cover three floors each, those that don’t and leave giant gaps for the students to chill for the entirety of the break, and so on. What’s fun is that once it gets cold, everyone wants to be inside, so there are about three to four groups of students running around in the building hiding from teachers. Most students go to the cafeteria, since it’s not locked, but it gets really full and humid in there quickly, so… yeah.” She made a disgusted face before beaming. “And most of the teachers don’t even take the entire thing seriously, so they play along mostly. One or two of them _will_ actually give you detention though, and if one has a bad day, you’d have to be careful as well, but yeah. It’s a fun way to spend the break.”

“Isn’t the point of the break to go outside to get fresh air and move around a bit?” Clifford asked.

Dennis gestured at the schoolyard with a deadpan look. “I believe that we get more movement into our day if we go inside.”

Following his gesture, he saw that most of the students were just sitting or standing around, few of them not on their phone.

“Touché.” Will snickered.

 

\-----------------------------------

 

Honestly, Will was okay with splitting up, it was only two periods after all, and they’d see each other during their free period afterwards, anyways.

What he wasn’t okay with was the unintelligible yelling and screaming causing the left side of his head to feel like it might explode.

‘Could you shut the fuck up?!’ he thought exasperatedly as he walked into class. He had already had the pleasure of having to deal with that in English, but he refused to be unable to concentrate in this class as well.

‘Hahahahaaah- you’re adorable, kid. Oh wow, this is amazing.’

‘Huh?’ he raised an eyebrow. By now he had grown used to his - their? - frequent internalised discussions and chats. And to the fact that his other half liked to play up its, or his, maturity by calling him a kid, child, brat, or any other number of things, really. It had been strange at first, to think _at_ someone (it’s himself, he’s thinking at himself, this is just a different part of Him, not another person, come on now).

‘Exactly, so don’t even worry, Willard, you’re doing great.’

‘Quit it, you know what I mean.’ He had suddenly started hearing his right-handed half laugh at the beginning of English class, then he went on to mentally spew obscenities, which so far Will hadn’t heard once from him, only to keep on disrupting his concentration every ten minutes with some random yelling and cackling.

‘I just heard something funny.’

‘Don’t give me that shit, we both hear the exact same stuff.’ Will pulled out his notebook and tried to focus on what the teacher, whose name he just missed, was saying.

‘Fine then, let’s chat. Give me the pen.’

Without thinking much about it, Will switched the pen over to his right hand. ‘So, what was it you apparently heard that I didn’t?’

‘You heard it too, it just had a different meaning for me.’ He said it in the same tone he used when he called him a child. ‘That’s because you are one.’

‘We’re literally the same person, you can’t possibly be older than I am!’ Will hoped no one noticed his gaze burning holes into his table.

‘Yeah, yeah, sure. But fact is, my perception is still better than yours.’

‘Why would you think that?’ Will grumbled.

‘Just look.’ He darted a look down at his notebook. His right hand was moving, writing down what the teacher had been talking about at the front of the class.

‘But-’

‘Oh, but you weren’t listening, right? But I did.’ His other half snickered. ‘You’re welcome by the way, for sharing _my_ notes with you!’

After that remark, there was only silence. He felt a shiver crawl up his back. His hand kept moving, and when he concentrated a little, he was able to make it stop. He switched back to his left and kept writing with his own hand. His left hand, they’re both his, that was just some …. freak accident, or something like that.

‘Nothing to worry about.’

The rest of the class was relatively uneventful, for which Will was very thankful. It must have been the stress of being alone in a new environment, nothing else. After all, the doctors did say his other personality was the defensive one. In that sense, he supposed he supposed his dominant half was like a child to the other personality. Having to be the protective one and such. And yes, he was aware that he was still one person, but he couldn’t stop himself thinking that it was an awful lot like another person was living in his brain.

‘Then again, the doctors did say that usually, the personalities do not share memories.’

Suddenly the classroom around him exploded into motion.

“What?” he looked around, searching for an explanation. Had the bell already rung?

“Didn’t you hear; we’re supposed to go get ourselves a microscope from the other room.” A blonde girl grinned before hurrying after her clique of friends.

 

\---------------------------

 

Chemistry was a little better than biology, mostly because he could chat with Dennis, who was in the same class. Still, by the time the class ended, he was relieved to have nearly an hour of free time before his last period.

“What are you going to do?” Dennis asked as they walked across the schoolyard towards the cafeteria.

Before he could answer, he was tackled into a hug from behind.

“Oof!” he twisted to look at his attacker.

Clifford was staring up at him with wide eyes. “I’m not letting you go ever again.”

“Dude, are you alright?” Dennis poked him.

“I don’t know, actually.” Clifford’s voice was wavering a little as he talked. “You know, bio was fine, I could distract myself with Cordelia, but in chemistry-” he trailed off before whispering. “Did they go through the safety protocol with you too?”

“Ah!” Dennis face lit up with understanding. “Did you get freaked out by that? Don’t worry, none of that stuff actually happens at a school, I mean, it could, but…” he glanced at the ravens horrified face before remedying. “See, the only one who really handles the chemicals is the teacher, and no one is stupid enough to not listen to the safety protocols, so no one actually got hurt by chemicals in like, five years or anything.” He reassured him.

Will felt his twin loosen his death-grip on him, and just when he thought he was going to let go, someone tackled them both in a hug.

“Group hug!” Cordy waved Dennis over, who rolled his eyes before hesitantly offering a short hug.

“Great, did it, now let’s go eat.” He shoved the three of them into the direction of the cafeteria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IF ANYONE MISSED IT at the end of the last chapter:
> 
> Since this and the last chapter skipped a lot of the summer break, I have plans to start a Oneshot collection connected to this story, so if there's anything you'd like to read more about, please tell me :)  
> So far, I already have four chapter concepts, and I'm just gonna throw the titles out there and let you decide with which one you'd like me to start:  
> (A) I believe I can fly!  
> (B) Hello, can I hear Me?  
> (C) Spaced Out for a bit there, nevermind...  
> (D) One Eyed Horror
> 
> ...And no, you won't get more than the titles from me ;P  
> Holly~♥


	17. Artists Corner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Please enjoy the second part of the twins first day at school (/^w^)/~♥
> 
> Things are picking up...
> 
> Holly~♥

“That was the same stuff we had at the hospital!” Will grumbled after lunch.

“Really?” Cordelia shot a look over her shoulder at the cafeteria.

“Yes! It was literally the _exact_ **_same_** meal!”

“That’s why I treat myself to some fast food at the end of the week.” Dennis mentioned. “The last free period of the week, I go into town and get myself some minimally better food than the cafeteria stuff.”

“Anywho, I’m off to-” Cordy put a hand on her chest and stretched out the other in front of her. “DRAMA!”

“Have fun.” Dennis hugged her. “See ya guy’s tomorrow.”

“What, you’re leaving?” Clifford asked sceptically when he saw him moving towards the gates.

“Yeah, I just stayed for lunch. My parents both work late, so I get some extra pocket money to take care of my lunch.” Waved “see ya!”

Clifford waved back. “Oh. Okay, bye!”

Will cupped his hands over his mouth to shout after him. “Fine, have fun at home!”

Dennis stuck out his tongue before smirking and disappearing around the corner. The three others went up to their last period.

“You know your rooms?” Cordy asked them as they parted ways on the second floor.

“Yup.”

“Yes, we will be fine. Have fun.”

“Oh!” She exclaimed with a hand on her forehead. “How shall my heart move on without thou!”

“That’s a good start!” Will laughed.

The classroom for the drawing class, which he had taken additionally to general art, was on the fourth floor, but Cliff had his creative writing thing on the fifth, so he offered his twin another long hug before parting ways again.

‘God knows he needs that.’ He sighed as he strolled down the hallway towards his class. The walls on this floor were already decorated in the main part, but in the hallway, it seemed like the students had painted the walls themselves, even though there was a section that was completely white. A few older students were currently measuring that part.

The room was the last one in the hallway, right next to the door leading to the staircase there. The teacher was already there, and for a second he had worried that he was late, but a girls voice to his left caught his attention.

“Don’t worry, she spends her break here.” The brunette occupying the first seat left of the door.

‘HAHAHAHAH! OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME! THISISGOLDAHAHAHA!’

Was he making a face? He hoped he didn’t, but that really caught him off guard.

‘Could you shut up?!’

“Erm, hi? Somebody home? Did my adorableness make you speechless?”

“Um, sorry, no.” Will paused. “I mean, yes, I didn’t mean to-” he frowned. “Nevermind.”

Sighing, he went to move on and find himself a seat when he was stopped by a hand grabbing his shirt.

“Woah, there, mysterious stranger, you didn’t introduce yourself!”

“Neither did you.” He smirked down at her.

“I’m Mabel. Now you.”

“Willard. But, that’s kinda nerdy, so just Will is fine.”

“Cool, you wanna sit with me? Seat isn’t taken.” She offered.

“Sure, why not.” He shrugged and sat to her left. Then he grimaced before turning so he could actually see her. Having her to his right made it hard to have a proper conversation, since he couldn’t exactly see her.

“You sure you don’t have anyone else to sit with?” he grinned down at her.

‘What?’ The wry smile slid off his face.

“I, I mean-” he stammered, trying to apologize. “Sorry, I just- You don’t know me. Wouldn’t you want to sit with your friends?”

Where had that come from? And that tone of voice, yuck. Like some snobby old man telling off a little kid. Ew. What was that?

A giggle pulled him out of his thoughts.

“You such a weirdo! I just wanted to say hi! And not knowing you doesn’t matter, I can just _get_ to know you!” she grinned.

He relaxed a little. “If you say so.”

“So, what’s yo-“

_Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiing!_

“Everyone, settle down!” the teacher had stood up and was going over to the open door to close it. “We’re starting now!” she called into the hallway, where a couple students still milled about.

“Later!” Mabel stage-whispered to him.

Oddly enough, after that initial outburst, he was able to keep his focus on the teacher and the class itself. Though, it quickly turned out that Mrs Petermeyer was a rather relaxed kind of teacher, and after discussing what they were going to do in the following months – drawing, sculpting and analysis of some famous artists – she asked the class to write down something they wanted to draw.

He thought for a minute before writing down ‘Monster’ in his notebook.

“Everyone done? Great! Now go ahead and get some paper from the back, if you need any pencils, feel free to look through the cabinets, but no colours! This is a drawing class!” she talked a little louder to be heard over the sudden shuffling of feet rushing to the back of the class, where supplies were stored. After acquiring a sheet of paper, everyone returned to their seats, with some lingering behind to get some pencils. Will took his own collection of different pencils from his pencil case.

“Now everyone!” the teacher raised her arms to get their attention. “I only have three words of instruction for you.” She turned around and pulled down one of the boards, revealing the instructions on the one behind it.

“Draw a tree!”

There was only a moment of hesitation before the students started scribbling away.

“How long do we have?” someone asked.

“Half an hour.” Came the answer from the teacher.

“Does it have to have roots?”

“If you _want to_ , you can draw them.” she shrugged.

Will picked up his own pen and sketched out the rough shape, when suddenly, his hand locked up in place.

‘That it the most boring little tree I ever saw, make it bigger!’

‘Really? Now? And about this of all things?’

‘Oh come on, let’s draw something like this!’ his right hand picked up a pencil as well and sketched out a second tree next to the first.

‘….’ Will frowned, before he got an idea. He put down both pencils and folded the paper in half, before unfolding it again so the fold made a line that split the paper evenly in half.

‘Sure, why not. You can draw your lame little sapling on your side.’

‘Why are you like this?’ he picked up the pencils again.

‘Do you really want to know that?’

‘Probably not.’

With that, both of his hands began to move over the paper.

“Woah, that’s so awesome!” came a hushed exclamation from his right.

Startled, he nearly dropped his pencils. He had totally forgotten about her. Seems the ‘out of sight out of mind’- thing was pretty accurate. He turned his head completely to his right so she would be in his view again.

“You can draw with both of your hands?” Mabel grinned gleefully. Will could have sworn there were literal sparkles in her eyes.

“Um, yeah, kinda.” He shrugged.

“I bet you’ll be done twice as fast then. Or make a twice as good picture.” She hummed in thought. “Seems like you’re planning something good.” She gestured at the folded paper. “Good luck then!”

With this, the brunette turned back to her own drawing and began to vigorously attack the paper with her pencil.

The next thirty minutes were really confusing in hindsight. Ever since his time of isolation, he had been sure that he could distinguish between his two personalities very well, but in this half an hour he found that this was not the case at all. Sure, there was occasional hackling from right-handed Will and some scolding from left-handed Will when the other crossed over the line in the middle.

‘But it’ll look much smoother if it mingles a bit!’

(He had no idea which Will thought that one up.)

But after a while, it was just _him_ drawing with _two_ hands, but as **_one_**.

Somewhere in the middle, it had been no matter anymore if the line was crossed over, if one tree mingled with the one on the other side. The line was still there, but mostly as a guideline, not as a strict border. He was thinking and acting as one and for a moment at the end he was convinced that he could almos-

“Five minutes to go!” called Mrs Petermeyer, which jolted him out of his trance.

Will looked down at his picture. And he was impressed. It certainly looked like what he had just experienced. The right tree was the taller one, in fact, he chuckled when he saw that he had aimed a little too far concerning the size of the tree in relation to the paper, since the only visible parts of it were the roots, trunk and the bottom layer of leaves. If he had a bigger piece of paper… but oh well. The taller tree was actually split down in the middle, and as he looked it over once more, he sketched in a couple of burn marks at the edges. It looked like someone had taken a super-heated or even burning axe to the tree. Vertically, that is.

The left tree was much smaller, and he had yet to draw the roots, which he was sure wouldn’t turn out as well as the rest of the picture in the five minutes he had, so he quickly added some grass and let the trunk disappear without root into the grass. Then he kept on adding a little shade and details here and there, but his right hand put away the pencil and relaxed.

“Pencils down, class!”

He finished off the last little bit, then he put his pencil away.

“I said, pencils down, Jesse.” Mrs Petermeyer scolded another student before holding up a stack of papers. “These are your follow-up instructions. You will use them to interpret your neighbours tree drawing. Please switch out your drawing now.”

Mabel scooted closer to him and stole his drawing before handing him her own. “Wow, that looks really neat!” she smiled. “But what kind of tree is this?” she pointed at the right side.

“That’s a Chri- I mean, a pine. Christmas tree, pine tree, something like that. It’s both the same right? I think.”

She tilted her head and smiled hesitantly. “Why you ackin’ so cray-cray?”

“I’m not.” He grumbled and hid his pout by looking at her drawing. He could hear Mrs Petermeyer hand out the instruction sheets and solve a problem where a student didn’t have any neighbours left to trade with in the background.

“Yours looks great too.” She had drawn a big tree in the middle of a hilly meadow, complete with swing and two kids playing. “Very detailed too.”

She blushed and made a dismissive gesture. “Pfft. That’s nothing. You should see how much greater it would have looked in colour.”

He was poked in the back by another student who handed them the remaining worksheets. He took one for himself and Mabel before looking around to see if anyone still needed one.

“Everyone got the instructions?” asked the teacher as she came over to take them off his hands.

A general noise of agreement came from the class and she nodded to herself. “Good, good. Now, read through the instructions and fill the blanks according to your partners drawing.”

He looked down to scan the paper. There were a lot of things on the list and he started filling out the blanks as he read.

 

 _ Tree Drawing:  _ _ The Interpretation  _

_Tree Drawn By: Mabel_

 

“Psst, Mabel?” He tried to get her attention.

“Hm?”

“What’s your last name?”

“Pines, what about yours?”

“Taylor.”

“With ‘i’ or …?”

“T-A-Y-L-O-R.” he spelled out.

“Thanks.”

 

_Tree Drawn By: Mabel Pines_

_Interpretation by: Willard Taylor_

_SIZE_

_\-----      1. Small in relation to the paper: You are frugal, careful with money and time._

_**X** 2\. Large in relation to the paper.: You are generous to a fault. You tend to take on more than you can._

_LINE QUALITY_

_**X** 1\. Firm, strong lines: Indicates an aggressive, positive, self-assured person._

_\-----      2. Light lines: Indicates you are soft-spoken and gentle. May tend to be inconspicuous._

_TREE PLACEMENT_

_**X** 1\. Tree in top half of paper: You tend to be and up-in-the-air person, an independent spirit who needs a lot of freedom. _

_\-----      2. Tree at bottom of page: Indicates a down-to-earth person, practical, sensible and reliable._

_\-----      3. Tree in the center of the page: Indicates a well organized person, good at planning ahead._

_\-----      4. Tree drawn crosswise on the page: Indicates broad mindedness type of person. Open to new ideas._

_DETAIL_

_\-----      1. Few lines or outlined only: You like to work with overall concepts, the big picture, but let others handle the details._

_**X** 2\. Lots of detail: You like to immerse yourself in the details of anything you do. _

_VALUE_

_\-----      1. Tree is shaded or darkened: Indicates a serious quality in the person._

_**X** 2\. Tree is light and airy, without shading: You tend to be an easy going person, carefree. _

_**X** 3\. One part of the tree is shaded: Indicates a serious concern about one aspect of your life:_

_Trunk: concerned about home situations._

_Roots: indicates a troubled or difficult past_

_**X** Treetop: indicates concern about the future. _

 

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Mabel nudged him and pointed at the ‘Detail’ section.

He turned her head to face her.

‘Great, what am I supposed to say to that?’

‘It’s because I’m crazy and you’re actually talking to two separate people Shoo-’

‘No!’ he frowned. She was looking a little worried now. ‘Quick, an answer, any answer!’

He sighed.

“Just pick one side.”

‘That should solve it.’

“Whichever one you find more interesting.”

‘Why not tell? She’ll be fine with it you know?’

‘How would you know?’ he watched her turn back to her worksheet and did the same. ‘It’s not fair that I have to hide this, but from what our friends told us teenagers can be awful when it comes to anyone different. I won’t ruin my chances for some normalcy on the first day of school.’

When there was no reply, he went back to concentrate on the task at hand.

 

 

_SHAPE_

_\-----      1. Tall: You are a tall-thinking person. You aim high and often inspire others._

_\-----      2. Pointed top: You are ambitious and like to feel that you are always moving forward._

_**X** 3\. Tree bent as if blowing in the wind: You tend to be restless, full of energy and often get caught up in the activity around you. _

_**X** 4\. Short and wide: You are contented, stable, satisfied with your life. If the tree is  wide relative to its height, you also tend to be protective of those close to you. (It is)_

_BASE_

_**X** 1\. Ground included: Indicates a need for security and planning _

_\-----      2. Tree floating in the air: You are perfectly comfortable when things are spontaneous and you function equally well in any surroundings._

_\-----      3. Earth drawn as soft, graceful line under the tree: You are happy and contented._

_\-----      4. Tree drawn in a pot: You like to be on-the-go, you can take off on a trip at a moment’s notice._

_**X** 5\. Tree drawn on a hill: You like attention and want to be noticed. _

_ROOTS_

_\-----      1. Roots included: The past is important to you. It has a strong influence on the way you live and think. Graceful roots suggest a warm feeling about childhood._

_**X** 2\. Tree base is open, without roots: You draw strength from the person you are today. A base drawn in a straight line indicates you have cut yourself off from the past. _

 

“Psst! Hey, Will!”

“Yeah?” he murmured back, tensing up as he worked. If this was about the ‘roots’ part of his drawing…

“Where are you right now?”

‘It is.’

“Roots.” His answer was curt and his lips were pressed against each other. “You too.” It was a statement, not a question.

“You- are you okay? Did I do something wrong?” Her voice suddenly sounded meek and nervous.

With a sigh, his shoulders slacked. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. “Nah, Sh-”

‘No!’

‘What?’

‘I’ll take that back, thank you very much.’

He frowned, suddenly very confused. Didn’t he just…?

“Don’t worry about it. I’m great.” He shook his head to get rid of the stray thoughts before he worked on the next section of the worksheet.

 

_TRUNK_

_**X** 1\. Wide and sturdy: Indicates strength. You can stand up in adverse circumstances. _

_\-----      2. Slim and narrow: You are flexible and adaptable._

_\-----      3. Trunk is very straight: You tend to be well organized._

_\-----      4. Trunk is clear and uncluttered: You are content with your home life. Gnarled, twisted or darkened trunk indicates an unhappy home situation._

_**X** 5\. Knothole drawn: You are forgiving. And if the knothole is dark, you tend to be forgiving of others weaknesses, but have a hard time forgiving your own. _

_TOP OF TREE_

_**X ?**       1. Drawn as fluffy cotton ball: Indicates a warm, gracious person, contented with life and comfortable to be around. _

_\-----      2. Simple, round top: You tend to be private and like to keep to yourself._

_\-----      3. Winter tree, branches without leaves: You are honest. How things are done is more important to you than the final result._

_**X** 4\. Summer tree with swirls and curves suggesting leaves: Indicates that you care more about the end result than the methods used to accomplish the task. _

_\-----      5. Tree without branches and leaves: Indicates a well rounded person who cares both about the end result and the methods used to achieve it._

_\-----      6. All branches up: You are forward-looking and more interested in the future than the past._

_\-----      7. Branches spread out in all directions: Indicates an outgoing person who reaches out to others._

_\-----      8. Treetop with a lot of lines: Indicates energy and movement. You like to keep busy. If lines are very tangled, you may be confused about where your life is going. Sometimes you feel like you are just spinning your wheels._

_\-----      9. Each individual leaf is drawn: You tend to be methodical and like things well organized._

_\-----      10. Tree looks cut off at the top: You are holding yourself back and can’t progress in the direction you want to go._

_THINGS DRAWN IN OR AROUND THE TREE_

_X          1. Any extra features: You are aware of things going on around you._

_\-----      2. Fruits and nuts: You want your home to be a comfortable place_

_**X**           3. Grass: You want your home to be a comfortable place. _

_**X** 4\. Flowers: Beauty is important to you and you like to fill your home with beautiful things. _

_**X** 5\. Birds, animals, people: You are kind, warm-hearted and like to be with people. _

_**X** 6\. Sun: Indicates an optimistic outlook._

_\-----      7. Clouds: Indicates expectations of sorrow and disappointment._

_**X**           8. A swing: Indicates you enjoy life and find fun in all you do. _

_CONCLUSION:_

_With the information you have gathered from above, write a paragraph about the person on the back of the tree drawing. The paragraph should summarize the personality of the person based on your findings from this checklist. After this, talk about your findings with your partner before introducing each other to the class._

He sighed and leant back. Now to gather all of that into a nice sounding paragraph. After thinking about it for a bit, he turned around the drawing and wrote a few sentences about his neighbour. Around the class, conversations were beginning to start and by the time he was done, about three of the teams were already talking.

“How are you doing?” he asked Mabel and turned around.

“Pretty okay. Still would like to know why you had to draw two trees.” She raised a brow at him.

“I… I couldn’t decide which one to draw.” He tried to explain without actually explaining anything

“Oh, I know how that is.” She laughed nervously. “Are you done already?”

“Um, yeah, but I can wait.”

As he watched her write, he absentmindedly put his name under his paragraph, just as a sort of finishing touch.

“Okay, I’m done now, here!” she handed him his drawing back.

“Thank you.” He traded it for hers and turned it over.

She had written two separate paragraphs, both shorter than his individually, but a lot longer together, on each side of the fold in the middle, as well as another short one right in the middle below.

“Wow.” His eyes widened.

“It’s probably way off, there were so many contradictions in there. I’m pretty sure _this_ doesn’t even make sense either.” She waved her drawing before starting to read. By now, half of the class was already chatting.

 

_‘You are energetic and easy-going, also restless and flexible. You are cut off from your past and have a need for security and a comfortable home. Home life is mostly good, but while you are an outgoing person, you are also very private and keep to yourself a lot._

_You care about beauty (we’re going to get along!_ _) and honesty. It’s likely that you are more concerned with the morality of how things are done, rather than the result. You worry about your future and are confused were your life might be going._

_Content in general, frugal and aware of the world around you.’_

As he read, he was reminded of the time he locked himself away from his family, while still reaching out to Clifford for assistance, his make-up lessons with Cordy and the fact that this was almost an exact description of him. He looked over to the right side.

 

_‘You are either generous or delusional (sorry, but that’s literally what it says.) and since you seem to be an ambitious and high-aiming person, I suppose it’s the latter. You bite off more than you can chew._

_While you do care about your past, it isn’t really connected to any warm feelings, perhaps this is the reason for the strength you supposedly have? You seem worried about your home situation as well.’_

 

For just a moment, the semi-blonde had to grin.

‘Delusional? She is right though, I probably am.’

‘Why did you draw roots?’ he wondered. ‘Do you remember? Is that why you are the protective personality? Are you keeping my memories from me?’ he could feel himself tensing and scowling.

But there was no reply. Taking this as an affirmation, he gave a low growl and kept reading.

_‘You’re spontaneous as well, which is interesting because you are also methodical and organized. Working with a concept is easier for you than working with its details._

_And apparently, you’re holding yourself back. Where do you want to go?’_

 

The question robbed him of his former anger. Where did he want his life to go? He was worried about the future, yes, but… he didn’t even have a goal.

Mood calmed, he read the last short paragraph in the middle of the page.

 

_‘Overall, you’ve got a strong, easy going personality and are a free spirit._

_You work well with details and are concerned about your future._

_Don’t worry, everyone is.’_

 

Will smiled. He had figured she would try help him out.

…. Because it would fit what he found in her drawing, of course. Why else?

Especially since she seemed to have problems with the future as well. He turned his head to face her and was met with a questioning and slightly nervous stare.

“What?” he asked, suddenly worried if he had written something upsetting.

‘Perhaps I was a little quick to judge her based on this? It made so much sense though!’

“Are you…” she suddenly leaned in extremely close and stared him in the eye.

“Um. Hi? Did I do something?” he was getting a little freaked out now. Suddenly she relaxed and sat back down, though she was still a little nervous.

“Nah, psht! All fine, everything’s good, that was just a test toooo…..to see if you’d freak out.”

“Well, I did.” He frowned.

“Great, you pass!” she grinned and scooted her chair over next to his. Around them, all of the students were in conversation with each other.

“Okay, so, first of all, apparently this actually works, because _this_ ” she tapped his description. “is all true. Like literally, actually completely me. I like your writing style by the way.”

“Oh, um, thanks. I guess I read a lot of my brothers writing, he’s even better with words.”

“You have a brother? I do too! In fact,” she put on a smug grin. “we’re twins!”

“Surprise, surprise, sister, you’re not the only twin here.” He smirked back. Mabel gasped and put her hands on her cheeks.

“No way!” she shoved him lightly.

“Yes way! His name is Clifford.”

“Wait a second!” her eyes were the size of dinner plates. “Clifford and Willard Taylor?!”

He flinched. He hadn’t considered it yet, but this grade was their age group. The other students might know what happened to them, simply because they were the same age as them when it happened. And because their parents would have told them.

“Yeeeeeaaaaah?”

“Shut up!” she gasped. “My mom has a video of the four of us when we were kids!”

“What really?” he hadn’t expected that.

“Yeah! We were toddlers then and apparently, you were like, one of my kindergarten boyfriends?”

“Wait, were you that kid who climbed over my bro?”

“Uuuh, I can’t remember?”

“That’s okay, I can’t either, it’s just a story our dad told us when we were going through our old things.”

“But wow, this is soo cool!” she was bouncing in her seat. “I can’t believe it, I thought you moved away or something.”

“Why that?”

“’Cause my parents said so when I asked, but I guess they were wrong.”

He frowned. “Oh. Yes. That’s…. actually….” He trailed off.

‘Of course. We were seven when the accident happened, who tells their kids that other kids their age nearly died?’

‘And as far as anyone was concerned, you were dead for a good six years.’

‘If you’re thinking of the coma that’s ten.’

‘But six until you actually had a chance of waking up. ….don’t you remember what the doctors said?’

“Are you okay?” he flinched when a hand suddenly took hold of his right hand.

“….Not really.” He gave a lopsided smile. “But I’ll be okay. It’s nothing.” He didn’t stop his hand from moving away.

“Silence! Please, kids, settle down!” Mrs Petermeyer yelled over the throng of conversation.

“I totally forgot!” Mabel whispered. “Was my description okay?”

“….” He looked down at it once more, before smirking and leaning back in his chair, arms crossed. “Yeah. You were completely right about who I am.”

“Now, each of you will introduce each other. You don’t have to read out the descriptions, and if you know each other, great! Just share your experience with this exercise and a little about your partner. Please keep it short, we only have twenty minutes left!”

The last twenty minutes of class were spent listening to others introduce people he was sure he would forget the moment he left the classroom. When at last it came down to just him and Mabel, she asked to go first.

“This is Willard Taylor, everyone!” she exclaimed as she stood up, before clearing her throat. “He’s a complex guy, with a lot of very contradicting facets, but he’s an overall really nice dude. Also, we actually met a long time ago when we were toddlers, so it’s great to see him again, even if I have no clue who he is now.”

She sat back down and he stood up to take over.

“And this is Mabel Pines, a sweetheart with lots of energy and joy for life. She can also be rather facetious and I am certain she would stand strong and fight for the things she believes in while still being herself.”

After he had sat down, Mrs Petermeyer made a show of checking her watch.

“Well, we just barely got done. Please leave your note on what you wanted to draw on my desk, we'll work on it next week."

Around the classroom, students eased their belongings slowly towards the edge of the table.

"Aaaaaand….. now you’re free to go.” Just as she finished the sentence, the bell rang and everyone began stuffing their things into their bags.

Will packed up his drawing and the checklist with the attributes of Mabel’s drawing, as well as his pencil case, before hesitating.

‘Should I wait for her or go ahead?’

Just as he turned to face her, she made the decision for him. “Come on, Mr Slowpoke, some people need to get home!” she grinned playfully at him and pushed him out of the classroom.

“By the way, I’d really like to keep in touch, can I have your number?” she asked as they were walking down the hallway. This time, he made sure she was to his left side, so he could still watch where he was going while also keeping his conversation partner within his restricted field of vision.

“Really?” he smiled and took out his phone. “That would be great, yeah.”

“Nice!” she fist-pumped before handing him her phone, a new contact already opened up. “Gimme yours and I’ll give you mine!”

He stopped in the foyer to lean against the wall opposite to the staircase.

“What are _you_ waiting for?”

“Clifford has his creative writing thing on the fifth floor, I promised I’d wait up for him.”

“Okay, woah there, those are a little too many coincidences now mister!” she gaped.

“What are you talking about?” he chuckled and shook his head.

“My bro has the same class!”

“That _is_ quite a coincidence!” he laughed. “Hey, perhaps Clifford and Dipper met, what do you think?” his grin died when he saw her pensive face.

“What is it?”

“Did I….?” she murmured something he couldn’t hear.

“Excuse me?” he tilted his head at her.

“Nice to see you made a friend as well.” Came a sudden voice from his right.

“Eeek!” he jumped and whirled around to come face to face with his twins beaming visage. Clifford chuckled. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!” The younger twin bent over and wheezed for emphasis.

Mabel waved to the other three teens that must have come over with Clifford. “Hey, Dipstick!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're going to hate me by this time next week... (Q _ Q)
> 
> Also, you'll be getting MABELS POV of this chapter this WEDNESDAY in the ONESHOT COLLECTION  
> Because, Try Again is Taylor twins POV, perhaps their parents at time, but you'll never really know what the others (Mabel, Wirt, Dipper, Greg) are doing while they're off-screen >8D
> 
> (Some uppercase, 'cause I still really want you to go read that. Please? OwO)


	18. Everyone’s a Composer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one long-ass chapter :O  
> But there is literally no way I could make it any shorter, so have ~7500 words...   
> Also, no need to tell me, I know I suck at poetry :/
> 
> Also, you are going to hate me, so just keep in mind that I have reasons for the things I do? Q-Q
> 
> ...HAVE FUN BYE
> 
> Holly~♥

Honestly, leaving Will wasn’t so difficult, especially after spending time with him beforehand. Over time, he managed more and more to reign in the anxiety he felt whenever his younger twin left his sights.

He wondered how his twin was doing in his art class. Their teacher for Creative Writing, Mr Brown, was a little dull, but at least his assignments were interesting.

“This is our first prompt.” He gestured at the current slide of his short introductory presentation.

_‘If you were to write the story of your life until now, what would you title it and why?’_

 “Go ahead and write a short text following it, at least one page, two is optimal, and if you write more, try not to go over three pages. I’m saying text, I don’t care much for the format, but if you leave a lot of the space empty, try to make it as long as if you’d written normally. That’s all for now. Get to writing, I will give you half an hour for this.”

Around him, the other teenagers picked up their pens and while some were still looking pensive, others immediately began to write. For a moment, he contemplated his approach. There was simply too much and yet too little going on in his life, and he was sure he might take the thirty minutes just coming up with the title in the first place.

‘Then again, he never said we had to start by stating the title. As long as I find one, I should be able to just work towards it.’ He smiled and started to write.

 

_In so far, my life has been rather confusing and strange and I am fairly conflicted on how to title it, but I will try to find one anyways._

_Only considering the things I remember clearly and personally, I am happy to say that I have a loving family, caring friends and no kind of negativity at home._

He paused and tapped his pen against the paper. It would be hard to actually find a good title without lying if he was going to stick with not mentioning the accident and coma at all.

 

_But admittedly, it is impossible to describe my life without the hardships caused by an incident that happened when me and my twin were in second grade. It would be wildly unfair and inappropriate to undermine the impact of that accident - not just one me and my twin, but on the whole class - by not acknowledging it in a text trying to find a title for my life._

_The results of this accident were different for the rest of the class, most of which walked away from it with no more than a few bruises, but also traumatized after witnessing the state of those that had been less lucky. Me and my twin had been the worst off, and we would spend the next ten years asleep. And when we awoke, we had lost our memory._

_Perhaps something along the lines of ‘Forgotten Childhood’. However, that seems a little over-dramatic. I do not miss the memories much, and I feel that the title does not fit much, since my life is much more than just the lack of memories, as it had been a few months ago after first waking up from our coma._

_Titles such as ‘Empty Head’, ‘Blank Slate’ or ‘No Past’ all fall under the same category. I am not defined only by my amnesia._

_It does affect me though, and plays a large part in my life. There are no memories to define me as a person, excepting those new ones I made in the past couple of months. I have no memories; I have no life? I am unable to tell you the story of the child named Clifford, I do not know it. I know the story of the last ten years only because I know I did nothing in that time, but beyond that, there is just … unknown. That could be a title, but it seems a little depressing. I had the fleeting thought of titling a story about my life ‘The Accident’, but both this and ‘Unknown’ seem to refer to me as a person rather than my story. It seems more like a morbid joke than something that should be taken seriously._

 

“You have five minutes left, finish your thought, then we’ll continue.” Mr Brown stated.

Clifford paused. He had just let the words flow, bringing his thoughts directly onto the paper, but now he felt he might have a title he could work towards explaining.

 

_I should not be so caught up in a past that – in a way -  is of no relevance to who I am today. Instead, I find myself asking: Where is my life going? What do I want to do? Do I have a goal to work towards?_

_All good questions, but I have no answer to them. Just like this story, I started my life without a goal, a title, to work towards. And from my point of view, I feel like both are going well._

_Which brings me to the conclusion of what I would use to title this story of my life:_

_‘Untitled’_

_Even if it proclaims to have no title, the story still exists, and the author will not have to change the title every time something important happens in their life._

_No past, no goal, but still here and alive._

_Being ‘Untitled’ does not make my life less. In fact, I believe it makes it full of possibility._

 

He sighed and leant back. He had written exactly two pages’ worth, and just two minutes or so after he went to re-read it and check for any mistakes, Mr Brown called:

“The thirty minutes are over. You can finish the sentence, then I’ll divide you into groups of four.”

He moved around the classroom and gestured at the students that would work together, mostly those that were sitting in a square shape. If he was correct…

He turned to count the seats from the wall to him, since that was how Mr Brown had started off. The two students in the very left of the front row and the two behind them, then the next two to their right with the two behind them and so on. If that pattern continued, he’d be in a group with the girl next to him, who smiled and waved when he turned to face her, and the two boys behind him, who were both busier with their notebooks than their surroundings.

Mr Brown walked past. “Then Clifford, Anna, Wirt and Dipper.” He gestured to each of the students Clifford had deduced.

“Urgh.” the girl with the black dreadlocks – Anna – groaned and turned her chair to face the table of the boy right behind her, which startled him into looking up from his writing. “Hey, I’m Anna.”

He turned his own chair around as well. “I’m Clifford.”

“Wirt.” The boy Anna was facing squeaked out.

“I’m Dipper.” The other introduced himself, eying Anna with an icy stare.

“Um, did we-… I mean, did I miss something?” Wirt fiddled with his pencil. He seemed put off by the sudden shift in Anna’s expression upon meeting the others glare. “About the task, of course. What’s the- er, what are we supposed to be doing?”

Clifford shrugged. “Mr Brown is still putting everyone into groups, so for now? Nothing, really.”

Wirt tilted his head and stared at him hard. “Do I know you?”

“Huh?” the raven-haired teen looked at the other. “….I…. don’t really know?”

Suddenly, Wirt’s face lit up. “No, we -we did meet, you had your hair different then.” he moved his hand over his eye.

“I’m sorry then, I don’t recall.” Hopefully this wasn’t one of his old classmates. The age group was the same after all.

“Really? We met at the trampoline park? A few months back? Oh gosh, am I wrong? Perhaps you’re not….”

He frowned and thought about it, then realization hit him. “Oooh! You must mean my twin!” he smiled. “He’s dyed his hair blonde and keeps it long like this?” he put a hand over his right eye.

“Yes! Exactly, that’s it.”

“You’re a twin?” Dipper piped in, redirecting his gaze from the silent staring contest he’d been having with Anna.

“Yeah, why?”

“I’m as well, my sister is called Mabel.” For the first time, he saw a warmer expression on Dippers face. Perhaps he just had some bad blood with the girl?

Anna smirked at Wirt, scooting a bit closer to his desk. “What about you?”

“Gregory, he’s my little brother.” Wirt shrugged.

“Aww, I have a little sis too!” she cooed.

Just then, the teacher raised his voice again. “Now, everyone, I want you to each read each other’s texts.”

“What?!”

“I should have known.”

“Why?!”

“Seriously?”

“Oh god noooo!”

“I hate you Mr B.”

“I get that a lot.” He went back to the teacher’s desk as the class whined. “Stop complaining and get to it. You have fifteen minutes to read the texts detailing the lives of your group members. Chop, chop!”

When Clifford turned again to face his group members, the other boys seemed as though they were hoping for the earth to swallow them whole. Anna seemed undeterred, but he was also a little embarrassed now. He had figured the texts would go to the teacher, not his classmates. He took his notebook and handed it to Dipper.

“I’m sure we all wrote something strange, so…” he tried to lighten the mood. “…let’s just read it?”

Wirt sighed and handed his notebook to Anna, who gave her text to Clifford as Dipper handed his to Wirt. As they began to read, silence slowly fell over the rest of the class as well.

 

_If I’d write a story about my life, I think I would title it ‘Suburban Nightmares’._

_Because, while most people in our neighbourhood – such as my parents - are fine with living in a house that’s completely identical to the ones around it, some – like me – do not feel the same and in fact, would be prone to calling it a nightmare._

_There are white picket fences everywhere, hedges all trimmed perfectly, housewives caring for their garden every day to the point of obsession so that the neighbours may not have a single brown leaf to criticise. Families dragging their kids to church every Sunday morning and seeing a married woman leave for a job that isn’t just the local bake sale invokes a reaction that is similar to running over a child’s pet dog when the child is standing right next to it._

_So, am I happy with my life? Not really, but it could be worse. I’m sure I’ll find a way to get it through to my parents that ‘no, it is not just a phase’ and that I do want to work and make my own way in life. My worth as a person is not measurable by how well-bred the men are that I attract. Which is something my parents seem to believe._

_There is really not much to talk about, I have parents with an old-fashioned point of view, a little sister that is too young to understand that yet and will tell on me if she catches me doing something ‘bad’, such as watching more than one hour of TV or that one time I attempted to take up a job as a cashier._

_My mom began teaching me how to do housework when I was fourteen, so at least once I move out, I’ll be able to take care of myself. Just need to find a way to move out unnoticed, because I am not going to stay at home to cater to my parent to the day they die. Which they also expect of me._

_So essentially: Stay forever in the suburbs, where every household is the same, never get a job or a chance to leave, marry the most well-bred and rich man I can attract and let him support the family while I stay at home and take care of the kids and my - by then elderly - parents…._

_No thank you. That is not my life, that is not a dream come true, that is a nightmare. My name is Annabeth Lawrence and I am going to leave._

 

When Clifford had finished the one and nearly a half pages, he was unsure what to do. Then again, Mr Brown had only told them to read each other’s texts, not do anything with them, so he shot a look at his group members to see if they agreed. Anna was done with Wirt’s text already and when she saw him look up, she handed it over to him.

Dipper was still reading his, and Wirt was just done with the other brunette’s text.

“Erm.” He whispered. “Are we supposed to do anything?”

Both Clifford and Anna shrugged, and the girl gestured to the other boy to hand her Dipper’s story.

For a moment, the raven-haired boy considered Anna in regards to her texts. She certainly looked like she was rebelling against something, with her ripped jeans jacket and generally punky accessories.

‘She might get along well with Will.’ He mused as he followed the clockwise motion the texts were taking.

Since Dipper was still reading, he just placed Anna’s next to his own on Dipper’s desk. The motion mate the other teen look at the text with an almost sneer and then shoot him a more questioning glance. Seeing his eyes dart between his text and him, Clifford gave a half-shrug and started to read the next text. At first, he wondered if Wirt was using thicker paper, but it turned out that he’d written nearly twice as much as him and Anna. After reading the first few lines he realized why.

‘A poem?’

 

_ ‘Footpath’ _

_There he was, right after birth_

_A little fawn new to the earth_

_In a cozy home of three_

_As content as he could possibly be_

_It did not take long_

_for the little fawn to see_

_that their bond wasn’t strong_

_and the Stag would flee_

_When he did go at last,_

_The little fawn had not even grown_

_His small heart racing fast_

_But also feeling like stone_

_Mama Doe moved on,_

_But the little fawn simply could not_

_For half of his life, of his family was gone_

_‘This is the end of my path.’ Is what the little fawn thought_

_It was not very long after,_

_When Mama Doe proudly declared:_

_“I will find us a new hart!” she said, brimming with laughter_

_And, oh, was the little fawn scared._

_What if the new stag was mean?_

_Or he would not care as he should?_

_Would him and Mama need to change their routine?_

_And would the little fawn be understood?_

_All these worries, and yet_

_Something else would be changing his family by dawn_

_And it was sure to make him fret:_

_Mama had brought home a new hart, but also a fawn_

_Now the little fawn was the big fawn_

_And he got angry and scared and hurt_

_Certain that the other two wanted him gone_

_He became withdrawn, but also alert_

_And for such a long time,_

_until the fawn had nearly grown into a young stag,_

_he stayed as such and oftentime_

_he would lash out at the little fawn and not just to nag_

_Then came a day, where he was filled with glee_

_The beginning of the story that would make him see_

_The young stag had fallen, and he’d fallen hard_

_There was a young doe, she’d stolen his heart._

_But no, oh no, did she feel the same?_

_His fretting returned and it brought back the fear_

_He worried about many things, thinking of beauty and fame_

_And he did so for almost a quarter of a year_

_He felt so uncertain of the path he was on,_

_‘Was he going the right way?_

_And which way was right?’ he wandered on._

_And if he ever talked to the doe, what would he say?_

_The moment had come,_

_But it was out of his hand_

_He didn’t want to see the outcome_

_So he, and the fawn, left the other deer and_

_They wandered on_

_On and off pathways_

_Through the woods and the fields_

_Over rivers and frozen lakes_

_No direction leading anywhere_

_Hunted by fear itself_

_And nowhere they stayed_

_‘This cannot be the end of our path!’_

_The stag turned back_

_To the life they had left_

_And walking back down their own footpath_

_They wandered straight into the black_

_There had never been a need to run_

_And walking on a made path was not the way_

_The stag had realized_

_That the path he would walk would be his own one_

_And he walks his own footpath, to this very day._

_But, of course, making footpath takes brains._

_It may be stopped by a cliff or lead into thorns_

_And sadly his doe turned out to be such_

_When his herd moved away to find greener plains_

_She broke his heart and made sure that he mourns_

_Today he would see that she was quite hurt herself_

_By the leaving herd and her leaving hart_

_But at the time, the stag did not use his head._

_And he lost himself_

_And he lost his heart_

_But his past kept him moving,_

_kept him steady as he walked_

_despite the lingering sadness, he still was improving_

_And he was sure that he talked_

_When moving through the underbrush_

_But it seemed that he didn’t, he was silent as he stalked_

_He was not in a rush,_

_And it would take him a year to truly see_

_what his harsh goodbye must have done to his crush_

_Now it is too late, she is free_

_If he got over her,_

_It wasn’t meant to be_

_The footpath is still there, ready to be used_

_By anyone else who’s afraid to make their own_

_But the stag would tell them not to, to keep it unused_

_“It will not easy, creating a path, but it would be yours, and yours alone_

_Keep on going and never give up, hold onto hope and keep moving on.”_

_And then he’d do so, until the day he is gone._

 

He wasn’t really sure if what he just read was actually in line with the assignment, but it definitely resonated with him. When he looked over he saw that Wirt was now reading his text, Dipper seemed done with Anna’s and she was done with his as well. Had they even picked them up? Or were they just quick readers He looked at them both individually.

Neither were talking to each other

He would have thought that they might have been the type to start up a conversation, and he’d been certain he heard Anna try to at least once, so he was confused by Dippers behaviour.

When he put the text down, Dipper had finished both the texts on his desk and was waiting for him to finish. He gave a lopsided grin and handed over Wirt’s poem.

As Dipper began to read, Wirt handed Clifford’s text to Anna, who was still reading. He waited for her to finish before taking Dipper’s text off her hands. This one was the last text to read.

 

_If I had to write a biography, I think I would write two separate books. Both with similar, but different titles._

_Most of the interesting things in my life did not happen until I was twelve. And I do not think I would be the person I am today without that first trip with my sister to visit our great uncle Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon._

_This town, as normal as it may seem at first glance, has many secrets and mysteries surrounding it. But since most of these are very hard to believe, I would probably play it safe and not mention them in something that would be published. As a singular book that only a few people would be able to read, I would definitely write all about these things._

_Therefore, I’d have the biography meant for the public eye, detailing the pretty normal and boring parts of my life, which so far has consisted mostly of family life, school, half a dozen one-sided crushes and the occasional excitement brought about by my twin sister Mabel. This book would probably be pretty boring to read, so the title would have to be something that’s interesting, but not so interesting that a reader would feel cheated when it turns out the title was completely misleading. Perhaps something standard, like: ‘The Life of Dipper Pines’. It’s pretty normal and boring, just like this book would be, but since the book exists, it must mean it’s something worth reading._

_But the actually interesting part of my life isn’t something I would make public. There are many mysteries and hidden stories and secrets in the world, and I believe I may have already started the ‘biography’ for this part of my life. It doesn’t have a title, actually, it’s just ‘Dipper’s Journal’. But I have already put so much more into this journal than I would ever think to put into a bigger publication concerning my life._

_Then again, I just realize we were just meant to title a story concerning our life’s, so perhaps it does not mean a biography exactly._

_In that case, I believe ‘Dipper’s Journal’ would be more fitting. A journal is meant to keep the secrets of its author. When I was twelve, I spent an entire summer break puzzling over the journal I found that confirmed some of the things I had seen in Gravity Falls, and now I am writing on a journal of my own, which makes the title pretty fitting I believe._

He gave Dipper his text back and waited for Anna to finish his. Most of the class seemed done already, and Wirt was done as well, waiting for the other brunette to return his poem. Clifford shot a look at the boy. He had this feeling-

“Is everyone done?” Mr Brown asked loudly to be heard over the various hushed conversations in the classroom. “Just raise your hand if you need five more minutes.”

Dipper raised his arm without looking up from the text, and two more students did the same. He felt a nudge at his right shoulder and turned to take his text back from Anna.

“Are you serious?” Anna whispered and gestured to his paper. Wirt turned to face her as well at the question, clearly interested as well.

“What do you mean?” Clifford asked, though he had a feeling what she was referring to.

“You have _no_ memories at all?”

“Well, I do have the last couple months.” The raven-haired teen shrugged. He was okay with others knowing, but he wasn’t sure about Will. “It’s not that big a deal, so don’t mention it.”

“But then why are you even in high school?” she asked.

“Um.” He struggled to find a good answer. “We took a test and passed it?”

“Okay, but _how_? If all memories are gone, how would you pass?”

“We had tutoring over summer break, so… we were studying really hard?” he tried.

“Ugh, really? You poor souls, school during summer break. That’s just cruel.”

“Well, we didn’t exactly have any school when we woke up, so we had around two months ‘break’ while we were staying at the hospital.”

“But wow, that’s so lucky.” Anna suddenly exclaimed. “Did you know that a few years back, tons of people who were in comas just died?”

“What?”

“Um, y-yeah.” Wirt frowned. “I remember that. And it wasn’t just comas. All over the world, anyone who fainted and stayed unconscious too long died.” He rubbed his hands together as if to warm them up.

“Right, that was it! So really, you were damn lucky.”

“There wasn’t even anything proven.” Dipper cut in with a hard voice. He had finished Wirt’s text and handed it over. He said this with a sort of finalizing tone of voice. For a few moments, none of the four teens spoke. Clifford could nearly taste the tension in the air, and he observed the other three to find the source. Wirt looked about as uncomfortable as he felt, Anna was acting aloof and Dipper…

He was glaring holes into Anna’s face.

“I know when it ended.” Wirt suddenly said, a strange tone in his voice, something else besides the admittedly pretty awkward attempt at conversation. “There have still been deaths, of course, but not so many and just from fainting. It was sometime in the middle of ninth grade.”

“And if it went on for three years…we’re seventeen now….” Anna counted off his fingers. “Then it started somewhere in the middle of 2013 and ended around the end of 2016, right?”

She didn’t get an answer, as Mr Brown's voice halted most conversations in the room at that moment.

“It seems everyone is done reading by now.” He cleared his throat. “Now, I want you to discuss each other’s texts. And I do not only mean the content, but the way that content was delivered to the reader. Please, do try to keep critiques constructive, if I hear anyone just saying something highly intellectual like: ‘Ugh, your text sucked, I almost didn’t want to finish it.’” He faked a high pitched whiny voice, the most animated the class had seen their teacher so far. “Then that person gets double the homework. So, don’t just say something bad, say _why_ it’s bad and if possible, add what you’d have done differently. Now,” he clapped his hands. “get to it.”

“Okay, so let’s just get this over with.” Dipper grumbled. “Okay text, Annabeth, too short in my opinion and playing a little too much on the angsty teen note.”

“Woah, hey.” She raised her hands. “I don’t need your opinion Mr Stick-in-the-ass biography dude. We can just focus on the other two, I don’t want to be here either.”

“Good.” Was the brunettes curt answer.

“So, hey Wirt, that was really something else, I would never have thought to write a poem. It’s really creative.” She smiled warmly. The shift in her attitude was a little confusing and almost reminded him of Will’s far more unnoticeable and nuanced ‘shifts’. 

'Is she acting? And if so, which of her behaviours is the real Anna? The kind one or the aloof one?'

“Clifford, right?”

“Huh?” he snapped his head back to face Dipper.

“I really liked your text. I like that you didn’t start off with the title itself.”

By starting this conversation, the brunette had successfully drawn an invisible line between Anna and Wirt and the two of them, Clifford realized.

“Thank you.” He replied. “Yours was good too, I liked the ‘author’ approach a lot. You keep a journal?”

“Ah, yes?” He seemed a little bashful all of a sudden.

“I do as well.” He reassured before shrugging. “It truly is more of a doctor’s order, but it helps keep things a bit more organized.”

“I agree. Your ending was awesome by the way. I never know how to finish.”

He looked down to refresh his memory on what exactly he’d written.

 

_No past, no goal, but still here and alive._

_Being ‘Untitled’ does not make my life less. In fact, I believe it makes it full of possibility._

 

 

“Thanks. And well… no offence, but it does look a little cut-off. But I still like it.” He smiled, hoping he wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

What he didn’t expect was the soft laugh.

“No, it’s not a problem, I know it sucks. How did you come up with yours? Perhaps you can help me out?” Strangely enough, the smile seemed more at home on his face than all the hostile glares. Must just be a bad day.

“Well, in this case, I just tried to make the whole thing open-ended, you know, with the whole possibility thing? I’m not really saying anything specific, I just implied a future. I think.” He shrugged and hid his face in his hand. “I don’t know, now it’s really just nonsense I think.”

“Change.” Anna broke into their talk and faced Clifford.

“Excuse me?” the glare was back. “We weren’t done yet.”

“You already talked too long, we only have twenty minutes ‘til class ends and I’m sure Mr B isn’t done with us yet.”

“Sure.” Dipper spat and turned to talk with Wirt, who looked very uncomfortable.

“He’s such a – “Anna shook her head. “I’m sorry for leaving you hanging with him, I know he can be a handful.”

“We actually got along pretty we-”

“Anyways, I really liked your text, it was really creative.” She interrupted him.

“Uh-”

“I mean, not as creative as Wirt’s, but then again he wrote way more.”

“Because he had a large handwriting and only filled half of his papers.”

“Yeah, yeah, it was still awesome. And yours was good too, I like the narrative style a lot.”

“You used it too, right?” he tried to recall.

“Yeah, I just put in more slang than you. You write like an old man.” She giggled.

He paused, trying to find a way to address the elephant in the room. “Why is Dipper so hostile towards you?”

‘Hopefully I’m not about to put my foot in my mouth.’

“Oh, I’m sorry you have to put up with that.” She sighed and continued in a hushed tone. “Really, he shouldn’t be so hung up about it, but..” she chewed on her lip. “We used to be a couple in eighth grade. He may have taken the breakup a little hard…”

‘That would explain things a little…’

“It’s been so long, but he’s still mad at me for some reason.” Shaking her head, she half-smiled at him. “Anyways. We should be talking about writing. I don’t really can’t see anything wrong with yours, what about you?”

“…” he shot a look down at her text once more. “I-…. I think it might be a little direct, but it seems that is just the kind of person you are?”

“I don’t like it when people talk in circles. You can talk - and write, for that matter – perfectly well without using long fancy words.”

There was a short silence.

“Um, are you- are you done?” Wirt asked.

“Yeah, I think so.” Anna leant back in her chair and gazed into the distance.

“Well,” Clifford began, “I really liked it. It’s nice seeing something different, and I haven’t really read much poetry so far.”

“Thanks. You, um-” the brunette's eyes darted between the other two, who were just listening. “You didn’t start off by stating the title, you worked towards it. I liked that a lot. Dipper kinda did the same.”

“Did you know your title right away?” Clifford asked.

“Sort of?” He gave a hesitant smile. “It was something else beforehand, but I changed it after finishing it. This one fits a little better.”

“That’s neat. I could not really decide on a title beforehand, that’s why I worked towards it rather than putting it first.”

Just as he finished his sentence, the teacher stood from his desk and called out into the classroom.

“Time’s up! Please return to your desks for now.” He waited until all the students had complied, then continued. “We have just enough time left for this. I’m sure you didn’t just talk about your texts, so please pick someone from your group and introduce them. It doesn’t have to be much, in fact, it’s better to keep it short. Just stand up, tell us their name, the title they chose for their text and their reason for choosing it. You should finish it off by saying something nice about their writing style.”

“I’ll introduce Wirt, alright?” Dipper asked the others quickly. The two boys nodded and Anna shrugged.

“Then I’ll do Clifford.”

“Who do you want to introduce, Wirt?” Clifford asked, seeing as he didn’t have much of a preference.

“Erm, I think I’ll-” Wirt's eyes darted from Anna to Dipper and back. “Is it okay if I introduce Dipper?”

“Sure.” The other boy nodded, and Clifford turned to Anna.

“Then I can introduce Anna.”

All around the classroom, he heard murmurs and hushed conversations between the students who weren’t introducing their group members, and soon their group joined in, figuring out what they were good to say about the others and what they should not mention.

“So I guess the memory thing is off-limits?” Anna asked nonchalantly.

“Yes. Not so much for me, but I think my brother would appreciate it.”

“Alright, but then your title doesn’t make much sense.”

“It still does.” He frowned. “Just in a different sort of way…”

“Really?” she hummed. “Can I see it one more time? Just to check.”

He handed his text over to her.

“What about you? Is this common knowledge or …?”

“Nah, you can say that, the people who care about knowing me know this stuff already, and those who don’t will forget it before leaving the classroom.”

“Oh. Okay then.”

Soon enough it was their group's turn. They quickly and silently tried to figure out who should go first, which led to Wirt and Annabeth standing up at the same time. The boy grimaced and sat back down, trying to make himself smaller. Out of the corner of his eye, Clifford saw Dippers face darken as he glared at the girl. That certainly was some unnatural amount of pent-up rage over a mere break-up. He turned back to face her, tuning back into what she was saying.

“- chose that because it’s symbolic of having no plans for the future and ‘cause life is a sort of ‘work-in-progress’. And I guess he has a lot of personal stuff in there, and doesn’t make it some sciency formal thing. It’s very easy to follow his reasoning.”

After she’d finished, he stood up and began his introduction, darting a look to her every now and then to make sure he wasn’t saying anything wrong. “This is Annabeth Lawrence, and her title was ‘Suburban Nightmare’. She describes that she feels pressured by her family and the expectations to be part of a standard family, in a very direct and slightly sarcastic sort of way. I enjoyed the way she ended her text, she did so in a short and clear few sentences that restates her reason for choosing this as title, as well as her goal of leaving behind the life she doesn’t want to life.”

All throughout his introduction, she had looked disinterested –he began to assume that might just be her face – and didn’t stop him, so he probably did well. He quickly sat back down and turned around in his chair to look at his other group members.

This time Dipper rose first.

“I’m introducing Wirt McLoughlin,” he gestured to the other teen. “who I think he was the most creative of us. He used the title ‘Footpath’ to write a really great poem about making an own way instead of following others. There was a lot of symbolism, which isn’t really my thing usually, but it was still really easy to read and understand.”

Clifford had to stifle a chuckle when he saw Wirt trying to sink into his chair, his face as red as a tomato.

‘Sadly, it’s your turn now.’ He thought as Dipper sat back down and nudged his neighbour.

Wirt slowly stood up, clearly uncomfortable with having the classes eyes on him. “Um, this is Dipper. Dipper Pines, and he p-picked ‘Dipper’s Journal’ as a title, because for one thing, there, erm, seemed to be a journal he’d spent a long time reading and he started his own as well. And the writing style is actually a lot like that, just a bit more like a scientific journal. And, um, right. What I liked about it was that he thought of the title being more like a title for an actual biography…. That’s all.”

Wirt quickly sank back into his chair and avoided anyone’s eyes until the focus of the class moved away from him and on to the next group. Soon, the rest of the class had finished their introductions as well and Mr Brown handed them a few stacks of paper to go around so that each students could take one as he described their homework.

“On these worksheets is your homework for the next week. I hope you all have dice at home and if not, just use the internet. You are to take two six-sided dice and roll them. Try to find a word with as many letters as the number that came up. So, if you have rolled a ten, find a ten letter word, if it’s a seven, a seven letter one, and so on. Do that six times, and write down the first words that come to mind, then use these words in a text with 700 words. Don’t go under 650, don’t go over 800.” He shot a look at the clock above the door. “Now get going. I’ll see you all next week!” he called the last part over the sudden noise in the classroom.

Clifford followed the other three’s example and packed quickly before following them out of the classroom and downstairs. When they got to the other floor, he spotted his twin chatting with a girl by the opposite wall, facing away from them.

He smiled and sneaked over – while making sure he and the other three stayed in Will’s blind spot, which also kind of hid them from the girl. He just wanted to spook him a little.

“Nice to see you made a friend as well.”

“Eeek!”

Success.

Clifford beamed when his twin jumped and whirled around. He chuckled at his twins betrayed face.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Will bent over and wheezed for emphasis.

“Hey, Dipstick!” The girl next to him waved at Dipper. Then her smile dropped. “Annabeth.” She frowned at her.

“What?” Clifford asked, confused. When he shot a look at Dipper to ask for an explanation, however, he was eyeing Will in such a downright hostile a way that made Clifford’s defensive big twin senses tingle.

“Why are _you_ here?” the brunette – who might be Dippers sister? - asked the other Anna.

„Cliffy wanted to introduce us to his bro.“ She hummed before turning to him. “But it seems I’m not welcome, sorry. Was nice knowing ya.” As she turned to walk away, she darted a glance at Wirt. “Come on.”

He furrowed his brows at her. “Uh, wha-?”

Dipper intercepted tensely. “I think he can decide himself if he wants to go or not.”

“Yeah, yeah, Mason.” She scoffed and walked away. “See ya around, Wirt.”

“I’m getting a headache.” Will grumbled as he massaged his left temple. “Can someone tell us what that was about, please?”

“Nevermind _her_.” Mabel grumbled, then perked up a little, though Clifford could tell her smile was a bit strained. “Oh, right!” she pulled Dipper into a one-armed hug. “I’m Mabel Pines, and this is my twin brother Dipper.” Then she saw the look Dipper still had fixated on the semi-blonde. “And this is Will, we had art together.”

“My name is Clifford.” He looked over at Wirt, who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. Poor guy.

“Uh, er, what? O-oh, I’m Wirt. Hi. Wirt McLoughlin.”

“Nice to meet you!” Mabel smiled. Dipper freed himself from her hug.

“Yeah, okay, that is- a really kind of strange coincidence, wouldn’t you agree?” Dipper’s sceptical look from earlier was still as present.

“What is?” Mabel tilted her head.

“ _Him_?!” Dipper gestured at Will. “And this whole thing?!” he gestured around them, indicating the situation Clifford still didn’t quite grasp.

Mabel raised her arms in an exaggerated shrug as she nodded. “Well, yeah, kinda. And there's more. Did you know Will was the boy from kindergarten?”

“What?” now he just looked perplexed. “Who?”

“The video mom showed us? Or wait, I think you weren’t there for that.” She hummed. “Anyways, we met before, even if neither of us can recall it, so this is no mere coincidence.” She puffed out her chest and balled a fist in front of her. “It is fate.”

“Well, great. Awesome. So, _fate_ just happened to point _Will_ here our way?” he asked, putting extra stress on the semi-blondes name.

Clifford bristled. Good start aside, that tone in his voice was downright poisonous and it made him want to smash something to pieces.

That urge was forgotten immediately when he saw his twin move towards Dipper.

“Dipper! Now that is just uncal-” Mabel didn’t get to finish her sentence as Will interrupted her.

“What is your problem?”

In that moment, Clifford was sure he had never seen something as scary as Will’s face right then. The younger – and also ever-so-slightly smaller -  twin had tensed and straightened up in a way that made him look taller than Clifford and he looked as if he was about to act on the urge Clifford had before and _actually_ smash something to pieces.

Almost immediately, Wirt backed away, but Clifford tried to reach for Wills right hand, which he pulled away as he brushed it.

“Will-” he tried, but his quiet protest went unheard.

 “Because, as far as _I’m_ concerned, I have done _nothing_ to give you any justification to act like that.”

Clifford wanted to run away. That voice was so cold and empty. He had heard traces of it before, when Willard was having one of his bouts of talking-to-himself-out-loud, but never as pronounced as this.

“ _She’s_ the one who stopped _me_ and asked me to sit with her. _I_ did _literally_ **_nothing_**.” He ranted at the teen in front of him, Mabel in between them trying to keep them away from each other. “So take that attitude and _stuff it_ , **_Pines_**.” He hissed.

“Willard Taylor!” Clifford grabbed his left hand this time and pulled him around. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw how Dipper stepped away as if he had been burned.

But he kept his focus on his twins face. Will’s left hand was still caught in his, but his right had come up to grab at the older twin’s shirt roughly. As he stared into his twins face, the sneer gave way to a disoriented and fearful look, the hand on his shirt slackened and the tension flowed from his shoulders.

“What just-” Will whirled around and backed away from the group. “I didn’t- That wasn’t-” he struggled to find words before Clifford caught a queasy look on his face and he ran off in the direction of the nearest bathroom, his hand clapped over his mouth.

“ _That_ was your _twin_?!”

Clifford glared at Dipper. “No shit.” He growled before turning to head after his brother. “Don’t wait for us.”

As he left, he could faintly hear Wirt ask: “Wha-what? Did you seriously not see the resemblance?!”

 

\-------------------------------

 

Will barely heard his brother enter the stall. He was crouching over the toilet and was puking his guts out.

Very dimly, he wondered if he had eaten something bad that his body might be trying to flush out.

Then his train of thought was scattered by another bout of retching, this time slightly less obstructed due to his twin lifting away his hair on the right side. He couldn’t even see that hair, he’d probably already gotten puke on it. When had Clifford even tucked it away?

What had gone wrong?

Just this morning, everything was fine, but now everything was awful. When had it all started? The very first class of the day.

He was crying. Everything around him seemed blurry, not just because of the tears, but he couldn't hear right as well. He only noticed that he’d been crying after connecting the feeling of glass shards in his chest with the sobbing noises echoing off the tiled walls.

‘Ouch. Everything hurts.’

“What did I do?” he finally got out a sentence in between his hitched breaths.

“You were angry. I was as well, but… I didn’t act on it.”

The words came to him through a haze, and he shook his head.

“No. I mean-” deep breath “ _What_ did I _do_? I blacked out, I swear!” he looked down at his right hand.

The traitorous one, that moved on its own, without him even noticing.

“….I’ll tell you later.”

‘What did you do?’ he directed his question inwards.

There was no response.

By the time he had calmed down and they walked out of the bathroom, he asked again.

And when they’d arrived home.

Again, when he lay in bed awake after discussing most of the day’s events with their parents. They didn’t need to know that last bit.

‘What the fuck did you do?! Talk to me!’

He fell asleep hours later, with no answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *puts on armour*  
> tomatoes are over yonder, sadly we're fresh out of hand grenades, ya'll!
> 
> Holly~♥


	19. Silence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I just wanted to remind you that I have absolutely no idea of American schools, so I just mixed together a bunch of classes that sounded like they made sense ^_^'  
> This Wednesday I'll put up another chapter for In Between called One Eyed Horror, if anyone's interested.   
> That being said, enjoy the new chapter!
> 
> Holly~♥

He didn’t sleep well that night. It was too silent, the dreams that used to be confusing and twisted were simple and as understandable as dreams could be, scenes from his life – the parts he could recall at least – altered and replayed until they ceased to make any sense.

But something was missing, and it all felt incomplete somehow. Cut-off conversations, merely one half of the story. One moment he felt like he was being burnt to death, the next he was being carried safely through the woods. He saw himself lying dead on the grey earth, his body almost completely see-through.

Needless to say, when he woke up the next morning, he felt like he had barely slept at all. He grumbled as he pulled himself from his bed. He went through his morning routine even more slowly than usual, sluggishly picking out clothes that he knew would cause a gasp of indignation from his other half.

‘…’

He waited. Then: ‘Are you still ignoring me?’

Silence.

Will shrugged and picked out a more fitting wardrobe, but still kept it a little plainer than what the other would have gone for.

He didn’t realize it until he left the house, but he didn’t have on a choker. Usually, he wouldn’t be able to go outside without wearing one, unless he wanted to be nagged all day.

‘….Are you alright?’ A memory of last night’s dream, him looking down at himself on the ground.

When he got no answer he was not sure how to react. Shouldn’t he be happy? Instead, he felt more vulnerable than ever.

He must have nodded off during the car ride, because he got jolted out of almost-sleep when his mom stopped in front of their school. He quickly wiped away a bit of drool from the corner of his mouth and said his goodbyes, then followed his older twin into the building.

‘So tired.’

“-ill? Willard?”

“Wha?” he raised his drooping head to look at his twin.

“This is your floor. You have French now, right?” Clifford pointed down a corridor.

“Yeah.” He gave his brother a hug goodbye, then went down the hallway he had pointed at, only checking for the room number when he was already halfway down the corridor.

At least his twin had been right.

‘How does he know my timetable better than me?’ he wondered before shrugging it off. Then he dropped his backpack in front of a window and pulled himself up to sit on the windowsill, before letting his head drop against the wall. He checked his phone for the time

‘8:03 AM. I still got twelve minutes.’ Then the teen closed his eyes.

….

_RRIIINNG!_

The school bell woke him up again. He quickly checked if he had drooled again and was glad that he didn’t. The sort of tired-glad, where one doesn’t have enough energy to be actually happy, but still has a good feeling.

Then he realized that the hallway was almost empty and most of the other students were in class already. He quickly picked up his bag and entered the classroom last. There were barely any seats left, most of them towards the front, so he sat somewhere in the middle of the second row. Darting his eyes around the classroom and taking in the various posters hanging on the wall that showed parts of France or the French language, he tried to recall what he could from his tutoring sessions. They were told that if they did choose a second language, they would be a year behind the others, and that they would get extra assignments.

Will groaned lowly and buried his head in his hands. They were also told to pay attention very well, because they would get extra tests by their teachers as well, so that they could hopefully catch up with their classmates by the end of the school year.

And here he was in the very first class, barely awake enough to hear the teacher talk.

…or maybe not, because he had no idea what she was saying. For a moment, he wondered if he had lost his mind and was now unable to understand words, before he realized that the teacher was probably speaking French right now. He waited, picking out the occasional English words and tried to piece together what was going on. Perhaps the teacher would just stop him? Their second language teachers _had_ been informed that there would be a new student in their class who didn’t know the stuff from the first year, right?

“- _et je reconnais quelques visages à partir de l’an dernier_ \- from last year. _Mais je suis sûr vous ne savez pas tout de_ \- ” she made a gesture as the classroom. “- _élèves dans cette classe._ So how about – _nous nous présentons?_ Let’s introduce ourselves.”

‘Ah. Okay. Something from the last year, for which I wasn’t present, then something about the class, and introductions. Maybe I can just listen to what the others say, copy-paste my own info in and done?’

“ _Je suis Madam Carrell, j’ai soixante-deux ans_ – not much longer until I can retire. Hmmmm, _et j’aime les chats._ ”

‘…Or not, okay so… Her name must be Mrs Carrell, I know madame, and the part before that must be the ‘I am’. Should I just tell her I am new?’ he worried his lip. If he said something now, there would be a whole classroom of students who would hear, and he couldn’t really tell her that he didn’t know what she was saying without mentioning the ‘exceptional circumstance’ around their admittance to the school.

“ _Je suis Abigail Quarter, je ai_ – sorry- _j’ai dix-sept ans, et j’aime…_ _chocolat_.”

“Who doesn’t?” Mrs Carrell laughed.

As he continued to listen, he managed to piece together what needed to be said.

‘There is the ‘je swee’ and then the name, then another ‘je’ and something? Most are saying ‘dee set on’, so I might get away with just repeating that, but the last part is always different except for the jam-part. What is that about?’

Now it was two more students before it would be his turn.

“Je suis Mary Dolan et j’ai dix-huit ans, j’aime des chiens.”

“Je suis Henry Mills, j’ai dix-sept ans, j’aime écouter de la musique.”

‘What?’ Will felt ready to freak out when the teacher’s eyes landed on him.

“Um. J-je swee Will Taylor, je dee set on, jam-” he quickly thought back and picked the first random thing he could remember from someone else. “chocola.”

‘Sounds like chocolate, is probably chocolate, Mrs Carrell asked ‘who doesn’t?’ and laughed, so it’s probably a good thing to say.’ He was ranting at himself.

Thankfully, the teacher didn’t seem to notice a thing, and he was spared of having to explain the situation to the whole class. He sagged and made himself smaller in his seat. He would tell her after class. And hey, he had paid attention really well, so what’s the problem?

Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice a bit behind him.

“Je suis Mabel Pines, et j’ai dix-sept ans. J’aime l’art.”

He turned in his seat and looked at the girl who was sitting two rows back. When the attention of the teacher moved to the next student, he tried waving to get her attention. For a moment, he could have sworn she had darted a look at him, but then she turned her head to listen to the introductions.

Or she did see and was ignoring him.

Because of whatever it was he did yesterday.

‘Dammit, Clifford.’ Of course, his twin had _not_ told him what happened as he said he’d do, and now the teen was stuck with a fraction of his memory missing.

 

_“So,_ **fate** _just happened to point_ **Will** _here our way?”_

_…._

_“Willard Taylor!”_

_He was whirled around to face Clifford, his hand coming up to grab at his brother’s shirt._

_He was scared. The other hid it well, but he was scared of him._

_‘What am I doing?’_

_“What just-”_

What had happened? He had blacked out, but what had he done? Surely, it couldn’t have been too bad, right? He looked over his shoulder at Mabel, _who definitely met his gaze_ _this time_ before turning away.

‘Why is my life so difficult?’ he groaned inwardly.

French class answered his mental plea for an explanation with a shit-ton of unknown vocabulary, accents and seemingly random sentence structures before ending it all with a big headache.

“Um, Mrs Carrell?” he lingered at the teacher’s desk as the others filed out.

“Yes? Willard Taylor, correct?” she smiled up at him.

“Erm, yeah. I was supposed to talk to you, about …these extra lessons I have to take.” As he spoke he saw a look of downright horror form on her face, which made him question if he did the right thing.

“Oh, no I am so sorry!” she clapped her hands over her mouth. “You’re right, oh dear I completely- please do not be mad, but this completely slipped my mind! And I got an email from the principal too. This is terrible of me, you must have been so confused.” She worried.

“Um. Yeah.” He was still mad, but the young woman in front of him was so mortified at her slip-up, he felt bad staying mad at her. “Listen, it’s all okay, I got through the first class without embarrassing myself and I was supposed to talk to you before class anyways. Sorry I missed that, I just didn’t sleep well tonight.”

“No no no, that’s all good, you did really well, I know we’re supposed to keep a close eye on you and your twin – he has German with Mr Buchner, right?”

Will shrugged. Out in the hall, the bell rang, signifying the beginning of recess.

“I think he does, now that I’m thinking about it. But what I meant is-” she quickly wrote something down before rummaging through her things. “you did well today, next time I’ll remember and bring you something to work on. I’m really sorry I forgot this today, but what I’d like to ask you is to- aha!” she pulled out a book from her bag. “This is the book for the first year French class.” She handed it to him. “Please read it. I want you to read through it and do the one-man tasks inside. Some of them are supposed to be done with a partner or a group, so you’d have to do the partner ones with your tutor, but you need to get through this book as quickly as possible if you want to catch up.” She sighed. “You both really have a lot of work ahead of you, but I’m sure you can do it.”

He nodded before mumbling an answer. “Thank you.”

Then he bid her goodbye and left the classroom. He pulled out his timetable – now also folded up in his pocket like his twin’s – and looked for his next class. He still had the break, but even if he was more awake than before, he didn’t want to risk falling asleep again and then having to search frantically for the right room.

“Hey.” A familiar voice greeted him when he entered the foyer.

He flinched and turned to his right, facing her. “You did that on purpose.” He accused her with a pout.

Mabel shrugged. “I suspected you might not be able to see well on your left. You didn’t react when I tried to get your attention in class yesterday and you keep turning all the way around to face someone and stuff.”

“Well….yeah…”

A tense silence fell over them.

“Listen, I-” “About yesterday-”

They stopped and Will gestured at her to go first.

“Um, yeah, I-” she took a breath. “I know Dipper was a bit of a jerk yesterday, but you were pretty bad too and-” she hesitated. “He won’t apologize, and if you do, he won’t accept it, so I just wanted to say...” she fidgeted with her hands. “That you should be ready for some tense situations if you still… want to be friends.” She almost whispered the last part.

“…” he furrowed his brows. He had almost expected her to say she didn’t want anything to do with him anymore, and she still looked as if that was the case. “You don’t really want to be friends, right?”

She looked as if he had just slapped her, and he immediately felt bad.

“I mean, I wouldn’t want to be either, in your place… I don’t really know what happened yesterday, so-“ Will stared down at his right hand, flexing it in a very calculated and purposeful fashion. He sighed. “If you think I’m dangerous to be around, you might be right. And… I can’t really tell.” He hugged himself and stared at a spot on the floor where a stain indicated that someone must have spilled something at some point.

“Listen, I just…” she hesitated. “Why did you even do that?”

“Do what?” he asked.

“Yesterday.”

“I _know_ , but what exactly do you mean?”

“Just, the whole thing… the- the puffing yourself up and being a jerkface.”

“Huh. That’s more than what I got out of Clifford.” He nodded. “Yeahno, sorry Mabel I have no idea. Literally. And Clifford won’t tell me what exactly I did either.”

At seeing her confused face, he took a breath.

‘Oh, to hell with it.’

“I can’t remember anything beyond Dipper making that snide fate-remark. Next thing I know I’m near-strangling my bro, who doesn’t tell me what I missed.” He fumbled with his long bangs and avoided her eyes.

“So, like, you just blanked?”

‘Aaaand she doesn’t believe you.’ He frowned.

“You know what, nevermind.” He growled and was about to walk past her and get out to the schoolyard, when she grabbed his arm to stop him.

“Whoa, there mister, you can’t just make me curious and then just leave.” She waved a finger at him, then pulled him over to sit on the stairs. “Now, tell me what’s up with you.”

“What about the teachers?” he asked, recalling Cordelia’s talk of patrols the other day.

“Hmm….” She looked around before pulling him up again. “Let’s go to the sixth floor, they rarely go check up there.”

They rushed up the main staircase, but had to deviate to one of the other ones to avoid a teacher coming down from the fifth floor. Once they reached the sixth floor, Mabel pulled him up another set of stairs that led to a single door tucked away on the side of the building, hidden from sight if a teacher decided to peek down the corridor.

“So.” She pushed him down to sit, then plopped down next to him. “Talk.”

He sighed, shoulders slumped. “What about?”

She made a thoughtful humming noise, then pointed at his blind eye.

“What’s up with that?”

He reached under the hair to rest his fingers over the eye. “I’m blind in that eye. Completely.”

“Why?”

“Accident.”

“No really? I thought that was on purpose.” She gasped.

He glared at her. “Really?”

“Back at you! I need details, so stop it with that vague stuff.”

He growled. “You want details?! How about this: When I was seven, I got into an accident that must have rammed something through my eye, I can’t remember and my bro’s best bud is traumatized by whatever it was, so I guess it must have been pretty gruesome.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, **oh**.” He mimicked.

“So… there is- um, just _nothing…_ there? Now?” she gestured at his eye.

“Nah, I got a glass eye.” He reached up. “Don’t ask why the colour, I wasn’t thinking right when I woke up.” He chuckled and brushed his hair away.

He was not at all prepared for the reaction he got. Mabel flinched back and her mouth opened and closed as if she was had been about to scream, but thought better of it.

After an extended silence during which she only stared at him anxiously, she let out a long breath and visibly deflated. “ _WHY_.”

He shrugged. “I dunno. It was one of the colours they showed me and my brain went all weird. But that’s apparently pretty normal for coma patients.”

“You were in a coma?!” she gaped.

“Oh, did I not mention that? Yeah, I spent my last ten years asleep in a hospital.”

“How are you still alive?” she asked incredulously. “Anyone who just as much as fainted in the past few years died within less than a few days.”

“Sheer luck?” he resisted the urge to shrug again. “Should get lucky in at least some aspect. Lost ten years of my life and the memories of the seven before that and also got settled with…” he trailed off.

“What?” Mabel scooted closer again.

“Don’t tell anyone?”

“Promise!” she nodded.

“I mean it. Nobody. I would actually prefer not to tell you, but…” he sighed. “I do want to be your friend, and all my friends know so…”

“Okay, scouts honour!” she lifted her hand in the fitting gesture.

He smiled softly. “Heh. Okay, thank you.” He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. “I have a personality disorder.”

“A what now?” she tilted her head.

“I have two personalities. And yesterday…”

“Oooh.” Her eyes widened.

“I don’t know what got into me. Literally, I cannot remember it. Apparently, that’s how it usually is. There is- something different with my disorder. Usually, personalities switch and neither can remember what the other did. That’s what happened yesterday, but for me, usually, we-... please don’t laugh?”

She shook her head slowly, as if she was in shock.

“We talk? We just… get along? It’s like being roommates, just… within a body?” he scratched the back of his neck.

Mabel made a short breathy laughing noise. “What’s he like?” she whispered.

“Oof. Protective? Definitely defensive. Cares a lot about fashion. And sometimes a little hard to understand. He acts as a sort of defensive personality for.. me, I guess.”

“Who am I talking to?” she asked with a nervous tone in her voice.

“To me. Um, we don’t have names picked out or anything, but he’s right-handed. I’m Left, he’s Right.”

“Heh. Dipper would say it’s the other way around.” She rolled her eyes.

“Why that?”

“Something about the brain and the left hand being connected to the right brain half and stuff.” She shrugged. “He got really into all that when we had it in biology.”

“Yeah, I think we covered a bit of that during our tutoring.” He giggled. “Our tutor actually ended that lesson by giving us this really funny song about it…. Anyways-” he tried to get back to the topic. “I haven’t heard a word from him.”

“Huh?” she looked confused for a moment before she caught up with him. “Oh. Since-…?”

“Since yesterday. I asked him what he did, but he didn’t answer… No, that’s not right, he’s not just not answering, it’s like half of me is sleeping… it’s a strange feeling.”

She looked at him for a long moment before her eyes hardened. “Okay.”

“What?” he asked, slightly intimidated by her glare.

“I promised not to tell. **But** ” she emphasized. “I still think your other half might be….” She struggled to find a fitting word. “Dangerous.”

“I gathered. Clifford would have told me what happened if he wasn’t, I’m sure.” He sighed.

“Yeah, so, if anything like yesterday happens again.” She frowned. “I reserve the right to tell.”

He looked into her brown eyes, reading only determination and worry, along with something like responsibility. But no anger or ill intent.

“To avoid anyone from hurting each other.” She added.

“….okay.” he reached a hand out for her to shake.

Her face contorted into worry and she frowned before slowly raising her own hand with her pinky extended. “Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise.”

When his finger let go of hers, she had her eyes shut tightly and looked as though she had expected some sort of physical assault from him.

“Hey, I’m sorry okay? No need for all that, I’m not going to do anything and if my other half starts acting strange again, I’ll give you a warning, okay?”

She relaxed and looked him in the eyes once more. Somewhere down the hall, the bell rang for the third period.

“We should go.” She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and stood up, walking back down the stairs.

“What do you have now?” he asked her as they moved back downstairs.

“World History with Mr Charles.” She answered, clearly glad for the change in subject.

“Same, but I got Mrs Everglade.”

“Oh _god_!” she groaned. “You poor soul. She’s so terrible.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, she whispers all the time, and she is really hard to listen to. If you want to catch any of what she says, sit in the front, if you don’t care, go to the back.” She advised. “This is my floor.” Mabel stopped and seemed to hesitate for a moment, before turning towards him and giving him a quick hug. “See you later.” She mumbled before rushing off.

“….later.” he frowned, a little confused by her sudden goodbye.

 

\------------

 

Apart from his talk with Mabel in the first break, his day went on uneventfully until the end of their free period. Today was a long day for him and Clifford, they both had gym, but they were in separate classes since the school had one big and one small gymnasium. The two classes would switch, so one had the big hall one week and the small one the next. Today, they were the ones who got the smaller one. Which in his opinion was still pretty big.

Interestingly enough, since their gm class took place at the end of the day, they both had an extra free period before, so he and Clifford sat around in the cafeteria until Cordelia and Dennis joined them for lunch.

Regarding gym, he was a little surprised when he first looked for the locker room to find Dipper there. But at least, he didn’t actively engage in any confrontations. It was still rude to ignore him though, when he had tried to apologize. Dipper just wouldn’t let him talk long before either talking over him or running off.

Literally in one case, since they were running laps for warmup. He was just glad he managed to somehow keep up. Rehab had gone a long way, but aside from that he had sort of began to slack off.

He finally got a chance after class was done and they were among the last few students in the changing room.

“I’m sorry.” He blurted out. With any other approach, he wouldn't even have gotten to the main point.

Dipper scoffed. “Sure. You _would_ say that.”

He took a breath and tried to ignore the other's tone. “Seriously, I didn’t mea- wait!” he quickly grabbed his stuff and rushed out after the other boy, who had simply left the room.

But by the time he got outside, he was already gone.

“Damn it!” he cursed and set down his backpack so he could get into his jacket. When he shouldered it again, he had his phone out and checked his messages for anything from his twin.

 

_** The Triple F’s  <3 ** _

_**Cordy, 2:13 PM:**_ _how r yall holding up? :D_

_**Cordy, 2:14 PM:**_ _oh right, u have gym :P_ _hahah!_

_**Dennis, 2:22 PM:**_ _seriously, deli, that’s low, they just told us that_

_**Cordy, 2:30 PM:**_ _must have slipped my mind  (-w-)_

_**Will, 3:20 PM:**_ _I got gym with dipper_

_**Clifford, 3:20 PM:**_ _Where are you?_

 

The response had come immediately after he sent his message and before he could even reply, he heard his twin’s footsteps coming down the hall.

“Where is that asshole?” he growled.

“Hi to you too, bro.” Will smirked, both touched and amused by the others sudden anger. “And it’s fine, he avoided me the whole time anyways.”

“Good. I don’t want him anywhere near you.” He hugged his twin close, and Will suddenly realized that they hadn’t had a single class together today.

“Awwww, did Cliffy miss me?” he teased.

“Yes, now shut up.”

On their way home, Will noticed a small shop tucked away in a side street, with an amazingly relaxing smell coming from it.

“Hey, do you want to check that out?” he asked Clifford and jabbed a thumb in the direction.

“I don’t know…”

“Come on! It’s just a short detour. I just wanna take a look, then we can leave?” he pleaded.

“Fine, but just for a few minutes. I don’t want to be late for dinner.”

The boys walked down the street and stopped in front of the colourful little shop. There were a few wind chimes hanging outside along with a couple of potted plants.

When they went inside, they were greeted with the sound of running water and more chimes, and the smell Will had caught earlier was way more intense inside. While Clifford made a short wheezing noise, Will took a deep breath.

There was a raspy sounding chuckle to his left.

“Those were the most different reactions I’ve seen today.” An old lady with caramel skin sat behind the counter knitting. She pushed up her glasses and put her knitting away. “What can I help you boys with?” she asked.

“What’s that smell?” Will asked.

“That’s incense.” She chuckled again. “Some folk like it and find it relaxing, others…” she nodded to Clifford “don’t think the same. And there are lots of different scents, so even those who do like it get one or two they don’t like. If you want to get some, they’re over there.” She pointed to a wall that was just one big shelf with lots of colourful boxes.

He went over to the shelf to look through them while Clifford stayed near the open door.

“What about you, dear?” the shopkeeper asked him.

Will looked through the different boxes, taking a couple out and smelling them.

“Oh no, I just- well I’m not interested.”

It was a little hard to guess, since there was already some scent in the air, but he picked out a few he liked before looking through the rest of the shop.

“We don’t just have incense. Hmmm… let’s see…” he heard the sound of a card deck being shuffled.

There was a little section with CDs and a station where you could listen to some of them. He set down his boxes and put on the headphones.

“We have some seeds here too.”

“How did you kn-”

He looked over to his twin and the shopkeeper as he listened. She was showing him the card deck he must have heard earlier. The music he was hearing was quiet, just like the one played in the shop. There was a fire crackling and he could even hear something buzzing around his head for a bit. And in the background, there were some more wind chimes.

He watched his twin as he walked over to another part of the shop and picked up a few little paper bags and turned them around a few times. With a sigh, he took off the headphones and came over to look as well.

“Do you have an incense burner?“ the old lady suddenly asked him.

“A what?”

“You don’t necessarily need one for those sticks” she gestured to the two boxes he had picked out. “you could just stick them in a pot of sand or earth. But it looks a lot nicer.” She picked up a strip of wood with some interesting designs carved into it and handed it to him. “Also, when the ash falls down, it falls on the burner, not on your furniture.” She smiled.

“So,” he pointed to the tiny hole at one end. “you put the stick there and light it up?”

“Yes, but don’t let it burn too long, it’s only supposed to glow. Here, I’ll show you.” She went over to her desk and took a stick from a pencil holder there. She put it into an incense burner that looked like a painted stone plate – which it probably was -  and lit it up, only to blow it out after a moment. The tip of the stick kept glowing and producing some nice smelling smoke.

“Ah ah!” the lady scolded and pushed him back a bit. “No breathing it in directly! And keep a window open if you use them. You don’t want your room to smell too much.”

“Okay.” He nodded. “So… how much for the sticks and the burner?” the sticks should cost him two dollars in total, but he hadn’t seen the price for the burner.

She went back to her desk where she wrote down a few things. “3, 50.” She answered.

“Woah, really?” he paid for his things and stood by the door to wait for Clifford.

She hummed a tune and went back to card deck he had seen her use with Clifford. “One moment, if you please.” She took a few cards and looked at them, before going over to a table that was full of boxes with small and smooth stones of different colours. She looked through one of the boxes before retrieving a small, pale blue stone with a small hole in it. The old lady took a leather string from a stand next to her desk and weaved it through the stone.

“This is an aquamarine. On the house. It helps to reduce stress and gives balance. You know, sailors used it as a protective talisman too.” She went on. “It symbolizes everything about the ocean, from its reflective surface as a mirror to the depths of the ocean. You should try meditation sometimes. Aquamarine allows you to explore yourself and balance what you find.”

He stared at the old lady in shock.

“Lady, I mean no offence, but that is very creepy.”

“What is?” she asked innocently, but with a look that clearly said that she knew exactly what he meant.

“This is pretty much exactly what I need.” He took the necklace and placed it around his neck.

“I’ve been in this business for over fifty years, my boy. I know a troubled soul when I see one.” She smiled warmly and went back to her knitting. “Oh, and tell your brother to pick out a pyrite, won’t you?”

“What does that do?” he asked her. Clifford turned away from a deck of cards he’d been going through to listen.

“It protects from negative energies, emotional and physical harm. Pyrite helps when protecting other and with seeing what is real and what is not. Supposedly, it also helps in overcoming fatigue from being overworked.”

Clifford picked out a stone – it was more of a golden piece of metal – the size of the upper phalange of his thumb and it had a smooth round shape. He smiled as he recalled the big stone he’d found in the basement the week before the summer break.

‘Fool’s Gold, huh?’ he looked at the price tag on the little box. ‘I don’t get what dad meant. Two dollars isn’t so bad.’

When he brought that and the seeds he picked for the garden over to the front desk, the old lady took something that looked like a metal spring, just more round, and swiftly bent it around the stone so that it could be hung on a leather cord as well.

“2,80 from you.” Which was just the price of the seeds. She handed the necklace to the older twin, who gave her the money for the seeds.

“Thank you.”

“It’s no problem, thank _you_.” And when they were already outside the shop she called ‘Have a nice day!’ after them.

They walked in silence for a minute before Clifford spoke.

“Okay, that was kind of nice.”

“The lady was so sweet.” Will grinned. “That gemstone talk sounded really spooky. I think I’m gonna look up what this stone supposedly does at home.”

“She had some really interesting things there.”

“I’m definitely going there again.” He raised his two boxes of incense and the burner. “If only to get more of these.”

“Great. Don’t expect me to come visit you upstairs so often.”

“Come on, the smell can’t be **that** bad to you?”

“It’s bearable after a while. Just open a window before I come upstairs.”

 

\----------------------------

 

He slept with the necklace on that night, and with the last bits of an incense stick glowing on his desk, in front of the open window.

 

_He was in a strange place. It looked like many things, but like none of them at the same time._

_A forest, his house, a labyrinth of black bricks, an empty space with random items floating around…._

_It hurt to concentrate on the changing scenery, so he simply moved forward._

_He was heading somewhere, but he couldn’t quite tell where his goal was._

_Then he felt his leg make contact with something cold._

_He shivered and backed off, looking downwards and expecting some sort of puddle-_

_It was him. Not very visible – in the sense of being a little see-through. He was lying on the ground, curled up and barely breathing._

_He bent down slowly, while assuring himself that he – the one not laying on the ground -  was still visible and there._

_Because his foot had passed through the other him._

_‘Is that you?’ he asked._

_The other him was barely breathing._

_He stood and walked around him to look at his face._

_‘Can you hear me?’_

_He didn’t get a reply._

_He looked around himself and saw that the different locations had melded into one. The ground was the mossy, leaf-covered forest floor, with the occasional tree shooting out, there was a piece of his room – his window with the still-burning incense – just sitting there. And one of its walls had the paint peeling off to reveal the black stone bricks. And in the air around them, things floated gently._

_He looked around and reached for one of the floating shapes when it drifted by._

_As soon as his hand made contact, the shape stopped floating and plummeted to the floor, where it fell into ashes. He frowned and backed off, heading back to his other half._

_Because that’s what that was. It would explain why he got no answer. He reached out to the other, trying to shake him awake, but his hand passed through the other just as his foot had earlier._

_Something bumped him in the back of his head and he whirled around, coming face to face with a floating clock._

_He reached for it, but like the other shape, it lost its anti-gravitational capabilities, which he could feel from the way it got heavier in his hand for a moment, before it, too, dissolved._

_He sighed._

_Time, huh?_

_He darted a look down at the other. If that was all, he could wait._

_He sat down next to the immobile shape on the floor and watched the miscellaneous things drift by._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone here have a gemstone/rock collection?
> 
> ~♫ I am the Left Brain, I am the Left Brain ♪♫


	20. Better to Stay Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO.  
> In honor of my sister's birthday and the party which is taking place right in the hallway outside my room:
> 
> HAVE AN EARLY CHAPTER!  
> (It's 0:55, technically Saturday, right?)
> 
> EDIT: I totally forgot, this Wednesday I'll put up another Oneshot for In Between called 'Strong Will', see ya then! :D
> 
> So yeah, have fun!  
> Holly~♥

Really, it wasn’t fair.

Didn’t he have enough to deal with? The amnesia was not nice, but now the returning memories were completely throwing Clifford for a loop. By now, he had enough confidence in himself to label some as real and others as dreams or strange fantasies.

He thought starting school would give more of a sense of normality, but it was just another unknown new thing. Perhaps it would be better in a couple of weeks, but just the first day alone had been….

Well, it wasn’t the whole day really, but rather the end and what came once he had calmed down and was alone in his room.

 

_He was standing in a dark forest, three blurry figures in front of him, one of them holding a bright light._

_‘Give it back!’_

_(that dream again)_

_“Wait. That’s dumb.”_

_(what?)_

_“What?”_

_(I know that voice)_

_“That’s dumb. I’m not just gonna wander around in the woods for the rest of my life.”_

_(wirt? but why would I-)_

_“I’m trying to help you.”_

_“You’re not trying to help **me.** You just have some weird obsession with keeping this lantern lit.”_

_‘You would as well.’_

_(why would a memory of a dream have wirt in it? we just met today!)_

_“I-It’s almost like- ”_

_‘Don’t.’_

_“……”_

_(what is he saying?)_

 

And for once, as he snapped out of his trance, Clifford doubted if he actually had any idea if his memories were real or not. If Wirt had met him before, wouldn’t he have said _something_? And this wasn’t like the other memories, were he recalled other children. Wirt was the same age as he was now, or perhaps a few years younger, but he was still no child. And Clifford had clearly been taller than him, just like now.

It didn’t make any sense.

He scolded himself for overthinking during a memory again. It always cut them short when he did. Clifford growled and threw himself on his bed, ready to roll himself up in the blankets, but his gaze fell on the softly glowing light garland on his bedpost. And on the lantern they were curled into.

It was the same.

He sat up again and took it off from the bedpost, turning it this way and that. Thinking about it, he didn’t recall asking their parents who it belonged to. Clifford had just _known_ it was his.

“What is going on?” he mumbled, before groaning and pressing his forehead against the bedpost.

He didn’t sleep well that night, but come morning, he wouldn’t have been able to say why. Perhaps he couldn’t sleep, perhaps he had nightmares, or perhaps he simply slept wrong, but he was a little grumpy on Tuesday.

Still, classes had been bearable for him. Since Dennis distracted him in their two shared classes – German and World History – he did not miss Will much and also didn’t have much time to space out. He became concerned when his twin didn’t meet them during the first break, but a text laid his worries to rest. He had been talking to a friend inside.

Clifford thought of the girl he’d seen his twin with on Monday. ‘Her name was Mabel, wasn’t it? And she’s Dippers sister?’ he’d forced himself to stay where he was and take a deep breath. She was not to blame for her brother’s actions. And if Will found a friend besides their childhood friends then, good for him.

Really, the short detour yesterday to the little shop Will had spotted – or rather, smelled – had been really relaxing, and he thought of going back again. They had some really interesting stuff and he always liked more plants in his – their -  garden.

And actually, the stone thing was sort of interesting too, and he found himself wearing the necklace they’d been given throughout the night.

‘Helps with seeing if something is real or not….’ Clifford had thought of the description the shopkeeper gave. ‘I could really use that…’

The little seed bags he bought even came with a note that told of their various uses, if you could make tea with them and how, floriography meaning and other trivia. And since their family had their little evening ritual of sitting together with a cup of tea, he bought a few of the tea plants to try and make his own tea sometime. He knew it would probably take a while, and he hadn’t actually planted anything in their garden yet, but it was worth a try.

‘It looks a lot better now than a month ago.’ He thought as he scribbled down more notes on what the teacher was currently teaching them, trying not to space out for too long.

He sighed and looked around. The raven haired teen was currently in his Wednesday History class, and there was not a single person he recognized. Of course Will would make a friend sooner than him, he was the more outgoing one of them anyways.

And he didn’t seem to have so much trouble with classes, either…

When the bell rang, he put his notes away carefully and went to check his messages. Their little group of four always met during break, and by now they had a spot on one of the concrete table tennis tables where they met up most of the time. He still liked to check beforehand if anything changed.

 

_** The Triple F’s  <3 ** _

_**Will, 9:40 AM:**_ _Hey, is it okay if I bring Wirt along? We met again in history and he wanted to meet ya_

 _ **Cordelia, 9:45 AM:**_ _fine by me, anyones welcome if they fit on da table!_

 _ **Clifford, 9:46 AM:**_ _That is alright. But what are you doing, class doesn’t end until 9:45._

 _ **Will, 9:46 AM:**_ _so?_

 _ **Cordelia, 9:46 AM:**_ _so wat?_

 _ **Cordelia, 9:46 AM:**_ _lol_ _xD_

_**Dennis, 9:46 AM:** _ _btw we’re down by the table as always, if you wondered_

_**Clifford, 9:47 AM:**_ _Thank you._

_**Dennis, 9:46 AM:** _ _And we rlly need to loosen up your texting -_-_

_**Cordelia, 9:46 AM:** _ _says u? xD_

_**Dennis, 9:46 AM:** _ _Exactly._

 

As he went downstairs, Clifford raised his hand to the necklace around his neck.

‘Good against getting overworked, huh?’ he thought. He did feel less stressed today, but he wasn’t sure if it was a psychological thing or if the whole ‘stone-having-magic-powers’ thing actually worked. He smiled to himself at the thought. ‘Who knows, perhaps there is something to this…’

When he arrived at their spot, everyone else was already there, and Cordelia was nagging Wirt with questions, barely held back by Dennis.

“Favourite colour?”

“R-red.”

“Favourite animal?”

“Birds?”

“What kind?”

“Wha- I-I don’t know!”

Will laughed at the brunette’s irritation.

“Hello guys.” Clifford greeted and sat on the table next to his twin.

“Hey bro, you remember Wirt, right?”

“Will, we met two days ago, of course I do.” He bumped his shoulder against the other.

“Yeah, just thought to remind you.” He grinned. “And actually, it’s really awesome, we met once before summer break!”

“Yeah, he said. At the trampoline park, correct?”

Cordelia laid down on the table and looked up into the clouds. “What happened?”

Will hummed in thought. “Well, me and Clifford had split up, he went upstairs – they had an arcade up there -  and I stayed in the trampoline court. The people there were doing really cool flips and stuff. And then a little kid walked up to me and basically pushed me over to this guy.” He jabbed a thumb at Wirt.

“I’m really sorry about that by the way.” Wirt said to Will. “I know Greg can get a little pushy sometimes…”

“Is he your brother?” Dennis asked.

“Yeah. W-well, technically half-brother but-” he shrugged. “Meh, semantics.”

“Well, he’s really good at reading people. ‘Cause both of us were being wet blankets about asking the stunt people to show us some tricks. So I went up to a girl and asked her if she could teach us some.”

Wirt sighed. “I suppose Greg just… knows people a lot better than I do.” He looked off to the side.

Cordelia smirked. “Don’t sell yourself short, you get along with Clifford.”

Will chuckled and poked her in the side, which made her shriek and giggle. “Shut up, Cordy, that’s my bro you’re talking about.”

“By the way, are you free this weekend?” Dennis suddenly asked. “Because as far as I know, we still have some important movies to go through.”

“Which ones do you still have?” Clifford asked, hoping it wouldn’t be more cartoons. They were nice, but he really wanted to see live action too. Over the break, the four of them had had a lot of sleepovers and had watched a lot of kid’s movies. Some of them, he even began to recall as they watched them, so it was actually really great.

“Let’s see, we still have Alice in Wonderland, both the old and new version, Spiderman, same story, and about a couple hundred more that I can’t think of right now. But yeah, those.”

“And Megamind!” Cordelia piped up. “I love that movie, and it’s a tragedy we haven’t watched it yet.”

“Um, you haven’t wa-” Wirt hesitated. “Oh right…. you both have that… sorry.”

Will shrugged. “Nah, man, it’s okay. We’re handling it well and now we have an excuse to have a sleepover every week to watch old movies.”

Wirt gave a short and quiet laugh. “W-well, have you seen Breakfast Club?”

“Oh my god!” Cordelia suddenly sat up and stared at Wirt. “You’re a genius, I totally forgot about that one!”

“Still, open question: Are you guys free?” Dennis brought them back to the original topic

“Sure, we’re free.” Will shrugged.

“Always, man.” Cordelia grinned. “I can bring the Breakfast Club along, we have that movie. Whose place?”

“Can we go to one of you?” Dennis asked with a groan. “My room is in a state.”

“A state of what?” Will grinned

“Indescribable, that’s why it’s just… a state.”

Will smothered a cackle in Clifford’s shoulder.

“We can have it at our place, Will volunteers his room.” Clifford smirked, knowing that Will’s room wasn’t exactly organized either right now.

“Awww, come on bro, that’s mean.” Will pouted playfully.

“What about you?” Cordelia turned to Wirt.

“Wh-what about me?” he looked confused.

“Well, you suggested a movie, you can join us, right?” Cordelia darted a look at the twins.

“Sure.” Will grinned at Wirt’s stunned face. “We can ask if our parents can give up the living room for… Saturday evening? Is that alright with everyone?”

“Yep.” Cordelia popped the ‘p’ at the end.

“Yeah.”

“I-I guess? Is that really alright?” Wirt fidgeted with his hands.

Cordelia shrugged. “Yeah, the twins have enough room. The four of us can fit into Will’s room, but it’s very cramped, so we can split up and two people can go to Clifford’s room, right?”

Clifford nodded. “That’s fine. Just remember that we have tutoring until 1:25 PM.” He reminded their friends.

They had figured out pretty quickly that Will’s room wasn’t made for larger sleepovers. While they had enough mattresses for everyone, there wasn’t really enough space for the mattresses. And with four of them, it would have been strange to send Clifford to his room alone, and splitting up into pairs had become the usual thing to do when they stayed at their house. Cordelia had enough space in her room, plus a TV, so they didn’t have to block the living room. Dennis also had a bigger room, but no TV. Therefore, Cordelia’s place had been where they had most of their sleepovers.

Clifford glanced to the side, where Will was chatting and goofing around with Wirt, telling the others about the tricks they learned the day they met.

‘Technically, Wirt was Wills friend first.’ He thought as he absentmindedly fiddled with his necklace. ‘And we only really talked to each other because of that assignment, while my brother actually shares some interest with him.’ He held the stone tightly in his hand and cast another look at the two. ‘Therefore, it makes sense that Will would fit better as a friend.’ Clifford had a mild feeling that he was approaching the whole thing the wrong way, but it was quickly swept away by the much larger tangle of emotions. ‘Wirt probably wouldn’t even want to be friends anyways.’

Cordelia poked him. “Hey man, we got Physics in fifth period together, right? Mr van Dykes?”

Will snorted before laughing loudly. “Pfrt! What a name!”

“He’s Dutch.” Dennis supplied. “And he’s the best fucking math teacher ever. He puts memes on his worksheets and everything! I had math with him last year, and man that was great.” He sighed. “And now I’m stuck with Mr Jordan.”

“Random generator grade guy?” Cordelia asked.

“What?” Clifford tilted his head at the description.

“Oh yes, he’s awful, I had him last year.” Wirt agreed. “I-It’s like he actually just throws a dice to get the students grades.”

“Oh no!” Dennis denied sarcastically. “He has a _system_. For class participation, he gives a plus for a constructive participation, so basically some remark from the class nerd that will make the others understand what he couldn’t convey. If you don’t raise your hand at all, or only to ask for a hall pass, you get a minus. Nevermind that the twenty students in the room cannot possibly all raise their hands in a fucking 45-minute time span.”

“You want to know how he grades the exams?” Wirt joined Dennis in the rant. “He just- he goes and puts the points down next to each task, like- ‘in this question you can get a maximum of 20 points’. And then, when it turns out that the highest score in the class was at 13 points, _that_ is the new maximum!”

“You’re kidding.” Cordelia’s jaw fell.

“No! A-and sure, he says it’s better for us, which in _his_ class, sure that’s right. We have a better chance of passing, but after that? He’s just ensuring he doesn’t get into trouble for being a bad teacher. If he didn’t do this, we’d all have even worse grades than we already do!” he frowned.

“Great.” Dennis flopped down on the table. “Just kill me now.”

“And let me guess,” Cordelia added “He’s one of the teacher who plays favourites?”

“Oh, definitely.” Wirt frowned. “I-… I actually made a chart. Of how often I would raise my hand. Not because of Mr Jordan, but because my participation wasn’t really great. Still kind of.. isn’t. Anyways, I had proof that I had gotten better in raising my hand, but he still wouldn’t give me a better grade. And after that, he kept skipping over me when I did. Except for the four or five people he always picked, I think everyone in the class were bumped down by a grade or two just from their class participation.”

Clifford sighed. “So, basically, don’t antagonize him, be a teacher’s pet and do amazing work in everything.”

Will stared at him with a look he could identify as ‘I-just-had-a-really-bad-idea’. “Nevermind that, guys.” He smirked. “Just come to an agreement with everyone in the class to not write anything in their exam.”

“Huh?” Cordelia raised a brow.

“Think about it.” Dennis chuckled. “If no one wrote anything, everyone would have zero points, so the highest achieved score is zero. Therefore-”

“-according to Mr Jordan’s system, everyone should get an A.” Wirt tried to keep in his laughter.

Clifford hummed in thought. “But what if someone breaks the agreement.” He stated. “It’s a gamble. He could give you all an A or he could give you all an F, both would get his bosses attention, but the F is understandable. And if only one person wrote something, they would get the A and all the others an F.”

He broke out of his musings when his twin pushed him off the table. “Stop ruining it, Cliffy.”

He heard the bell ring in the background. “Get moving and get to class, Willard.” He jabbed back and shouldered his backpack before slowly walking backwards towards the school building.

After Will had gathered his stuff, the twins split off from the others and headed towards their Math class.

 

\-----------------

 

After yesterday, having Math and Physics with Clifford was pretty nice. Will hurried up the last few steps to the sixth floor where his Psychology class was being held, painfully aware that he wasn’t as fit as he thought and that he was now late for class. They – meaning the four of them plus Wirt – had spent the latter half of their free period in the cafeteria trying to find either the most eccentric or the plainest looking students and teachers. Sadly, they had also lost track of time and had to hurry off with no more than three minutes until class began. He had been a little miffed that Clifford’s Botany class met at school garden behind the cafeteria.

Still, it hadn’t been a bad day, all in all. He had six periods, three of them with his twin and so far, he hadn’t seen Dipper at all. He just hoped it stayed that way.

‘I can’t afford getting into an actual fight with another student.’ The semi-blonde reminded himself as he hurried down the hallway and knocked on the closed door. ‘Me and Clifford are under closer surveillance, if we show any _immature or violent tendencies_ , were out. Or we’ll at least get moved down a grade or two.’

So really, it was probably for the best if he and Dipper stayed as far away from each other as possible. And if he considered the others behaviour yesterday, it was likely that a certain distance was easily achievable.

When he walked into class after the student next to the door opened it for him, the teacher shot him a look for his frazzled appearance and panting. He tried to cast an apologetic look at her and she nodded towards the class.

‘Or not so easily achievable…’ his good day took a turn when he saw that the only free seat left was next to the guy he wanted to avoid the most.

Still, being under the scrutiny of both the teacher and the class, he quickly moved over and sat down.

“Where was I?” the teacher mused, before she moved on. “Right! Then, after we cover ‘Learning and Conditioning’ we are going to talk about Intelligence Testing, which does not only mean IQ, but also creativity and divergent thinking. Once we finish with that, we’ll be more than halfway through. So in the latter half of the school year, we’re going to start off with psychological disorders and their treatment. We are also going to do a little group project at the end there, to study group behaviour. And that should be all of it.” she put down the paper she’d been reading off from.

‘I can’t tell if I am in exactly the right or exactly the wrong class’ Will thought exasperatedly, burying his face in his hands. ‘I just picked this ‘cause it sounded easy.’ He rummaged through his bag – strategically placed on his right side, away from Dipper – to get out his pencil case and notebook.

At least, Dipper didn’t want to talk to him either, and so they spent the entire time giving each other the cold shoulder. For the first lesson, the teacher immediately gave them a historical lesson on psychology, and Will wrote down a couple of notes on one page.

Earlier today, he had started doodling on another page in his notebook, so he flipped the page of his notebook to sketch and doodle on that page instead, in an attempt to keep his notes a little tidier. He flipped to that page now, once there was a little bit where the teacher didn’t really say anything important.

Most of the pictures had been drawn almost done automatically. He still drew Christmas trees into his school notes, even though by now they’d been simplified a lot. He picked up his pen and began doodling as he kept an ear out in case the teacher said something interesting. Every once in a while, he would flip back and jot down a note on something the teacher said, before returning to his doodles.

‘I get the feeling I’m writing down less than usual.’ He mused as he flipped through his other notes. He always just wrote the class and date in the corner of the page and sorted them away into their respective folders once he got home, so he could look over everything they did at school that day once more. But he couldn’t tell if he really _did_ write a lot more than this usually, or if classes were just less…. note-worthy today.

But really, the little anecdotes the teacher told them right now weren’t actually important information, right?

Will frowned and scratched his neck. ‘Urgh, I can’t even tell important an unimportant information apart.’

His fingers caught on the leather band of his aquamarine necklace and he followed it down to the stone itself, which was hidden under his shirt.

‘Balance and relaxation.’ He scoffed quietly. When he had looked up the meaning yesterday, the different web pages had given him many different meanings for the stone, but all of them said it was a talisman against negative forces and that it was supposedly a soothing stone. Mostly, it appeared to be considered a general healing stone, which sounded really ridiculous to him.

He frowned down at the paper. The teenager had switched hands to draw the Christmas tree, as he did usually, but strangely enough, when he tried to draw with his right hand, it came out as completely lopsided and squiggly. He tested it out a couple more times, but everything he drew with his right looked as though he’d never drawn with it before.

‘Then again, usually **_I_** don’t.’ he thought about his strangely quiet _~~absent~~_ second half.

He paused for a second in his doodling when he caught a movement to his left. Without turning, he glanced at Dipper out of the corner of his eye, but if he had been looking, he had just turned away.

When Will went back to his doodles, he tried writing, and after a few failed attempts managed to add some readable remarks on his doodle of Fluffmaggedon.

‘It would look amazing.’ He thought absentmindedly as he flipped back to his school notes to quickly scribble something down that the teacher said. Something about everyone wanting to kill their own dad. Psychology was surprisingly ridiculous at times, apparently.

The time had flown by rather quickly, and they would be free to go in ten minutes. He leant back a bit and twiddled his pen through his fingers.

And once agin, he felt someone stare. He snook a glance at Dipper again, who was actually staring this time, just not at him. If he had his school notes open he would have closed the notebook to keep the other from possibly copying his notes – not that he actually thought there was much to copy from them -  but since it was just the doodle page….

Once the bell rang and everone began to pack up, he scrambled to get his things together as quickly as possible and rushed out the room. He wanted to aviod the mass of students heading down the big main staircase and headed towards the less used side staircase. He had just reached it when a hand grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“What?!” he hissed as he turned his head.

‘Of course, the bastard just _had_ to sneak up from the right.’ He scowled.

“Did you talk to Mabel yesterday?” Dipper glared at him.

“Is it any of your business who she chooses to talk to?”

Of course, that was as good as just saying that he did, but this kind of behaviour really rubbed him the wrong way. Clifford had started out nosy and clingy as well, but after ‘talking’ to him – per notes - during the time the younger had locked himself in his room, the older twin had started to give him more and more space.

“It is when I believe she’s talking to the _wrong_ _people_.” The brunette stressed.

“Who are you to define who the wrong people are? Do you have that little faith in her decisions?” he turned around and walked down the stairs, hoping to exit the conversation before it had any chance to turn bad the way it did the other day. It was just two floors, then he could just leave the school and be done with it.

“I trust my sisters judgement, it’s _you_ I don’t trust.”

‘ _Of course_ , he would follow. Nothing is ever just _that_ easy’

“Great, it’s mutual.”

“That isn’t helping your case!”

“Do I look like I care what you think?!” he called over his shoulder once they reached the ground floor. “I much preferred it when you were avoiding me.”

“Well, back off and we can go right back to that!”

They strode out of the side entrance of the school and Will headed towards the gates, where he had told Clifford to wait for him later.

“Are you going to or what?!” Dipper rushed after him.

‘Just don’t answer, don’t engage, just leave and-’ His train of thought was interrupted when the other boy grabbed hold of his bag to stop his quick pace.

“Let me go.” He growled at him.

“I’m not backing down, _Will_.” Dipper spat his name out like it was poison.

A cold shiver ran up his back and he braced himself, just in case…

...

The boys stood in silence for a few moments.

‘Nothing?’ Will prodded into his mind. ‘The last time he said it like that…’

He sighed out loud. ‘Where are you? Where would you even go?’

“What?”

He turned to face the other and pried the shorter teens hand off his bag. “I don’t know what your problem is, Pines.” He said in a tired tone of voice. He was done with this. “But if Mabel wants to be friends with me, I’m going to give her a chance to. If you don’t want that happen, that’s on you.” Will turned to the school gates and walked off at a calmer pace than before. “Could have been great if you’d been less of a dick.” He mumbled to himself once he was a little ways away from the other.

And this time, Dipper did not follow him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just stalling, give these dorks a couple more chapters.  
> They are all just so DENSE in their own way.  
> And they clash in such a nice way too, I couldn't resist :3


	21. The kids aren't alright

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! (/^w^)/  
> You don't know how much I look forward to seeing you guys respond to the new chapters, it's insane xD
> 
> I hope you like this chapter, there are some good things happening, but of course, also some bad stuff, but we need to have a balance somehow, right?  
> Enjoy!
> 
> Holly~♥

Around the end of the week, the twins began to see that the students became a little more inattentive and even more eager to leave their classrooms as soon as possible. Clifford’s school day on Thursday had been shorter than Wills, as the younger twin had his photography club after school, plus the free period before that. Going home for that little time didn’t really make sense, since they had to walk ten to fifteen minutes, which really didn’t bring them much time at home. Clifford hadn’t wanted to leave Will alone, but he had assured him that he would be fine.

So, he had found himself in his garden once more, planting a few of the seeds he bought on Tuesday. He also practised a few of the things he learned in his Botany class yesterday, and by the time Will came home, the older twin was sweaty, tired and very certain that he’d gotten a sunburn.

Judging from the way Will had giggled and drawn white shapes onto his stinging shoulders, he’d been correct.

Later, when they talked about their day during their evening talk, Will had said he spent the break with Mabel, who was in the Photography club as well. After having had his Art class with her, Clifford wasn’t really sure what to think of her anymore. She was definitely nicer than her twin, but he still approached Will about it once they’d gone upstairs to get ready for bed.

Before he could even finish his sentence, Will had given him a look that made him shut up immediately. It was his ‘stop-being-such-an-annoyingly-protective-brother’-look, a thing they’d talked about a couple of times before. Clifford had simply continued to brush his teeth vigorously, slightly embarrassed. He didn’t mean to dictate how Will should live his life or what people to be friends with, he was just worried.

It turned out Will shared an Art class with Wirt and Dipper, and the latter had been on his case about the same thing, so he was a little more aggressive about that subject anyways. After a short talk, Clifford was sure he’d gotten the whole story together.

After first approaching Will yesterday, Dipper had done the same that day, and once more, Will had run off before anything could escalate, but he felt that this had just made the other more determined.

That evening, Clifford moved up to Wills room to cuddle up together for a while before bed.

 “You didn’t open a window.” Clifford teased him as he laid his arms down on the younger’s back, reading a book he’d brought upstairs.

Will, who had laid on his upper body on his twin’s legs, merely hummed as he played a game on his laptop. “Since you just realized that now, I believe you don’t really care.”

They fell back into comfortable silence, until Will shifted and something small and hard dug into Clifford’s knee.

“Yeaoch!” he shoved Will up.

“Woah, sorry, what happened?!” he stood from the bed as Clifford tugged his hurt knee close to his chest.

“Ooowww…” he groaned. “What was that?” he looked up at his twin.

“I don’t know what you mean?”

The raven-haired boy took note of the leather cord around the younger one's neck. “I think your necklace just decided to push itself into my knee.” He grumbled before thinking of his own necklace, which he still wore. “Do you believe there is something to the whole ‘magic mystic stone’ thing?”

Will shrugged. “Not really. Why, do you?” A grin spread across his face.

“Perhaps? It’s interesting at least. Did you know that that” he gestured towards the burning incense by the cracked open window. “is actually supposed to sort of ‘load’ the stones? Well, that or moon or sunlight.”

“Eerrrr, no? And if that was how it really worked, how come I don’t feel any of the supposed effects of the stone?” He laid back down on the bed, moving the laptop pillow with his computer on it to his lap. “Because if that’s true, it should be brimming with _‘mythical energy’_ by now.” He made a sort of mocking hand gesture by splaying his fingers on both hands. “I mean, I light one of these up every evening.”

“That’s how your room smells too.” Clifford chuckled.

“Better than have it smelling like dirty laundry.” He gestured to the overflowing laundry basket that he hadn’t bothered to bring away.

“Willard.” Clifford sighed. “The laundry room is literally right there.”  He pointed at the wall that separated Wills laundry basket from the washing machine. They were probably only a foot or so apart.

“I forget.” The semi blonde pouted and went back to his game.

Clifford rolled his eyes and went back to his book, pulling his knees up so he could sit on one side of his twin’s legs while his feet rested on the other side. The two of them sat in silence until 10 PM, when Annie called Will’s attic phone to remind them to go to bed.  

“Sleep well.” Clifford told Will as he left.

“G’night, bro. You too.” The last word turned into a yawn.

 

\------------------

 

Will awoke Friday morning feeling like he barely slept. Looking around the room, he noted that his alarms had yet to go off, so he could probably just go back to sleep…

Sadly, it quickly turned out that his stomach had a different opinion as it growled loudly at him. He groaned, put on some pants and moved downstairs to use the bathroom and went to get breakfast afterwards.

“Oh, come on!” Clifford exclaimed as he entered the kitchen. His twin was sitting on his chair, drinking a cup of tea, with a half-eaten piece of toast in front of him. “Put on a shirt, Willard!”

“Later.” He grumbled as he wiped away some sleep from his eyes.

“Why are you even awake? It’s 6:30.” Clifford went back to his toast.

“Dunno.” He shrugged and made himself some cereal. At least he had some time before school for once. Might even try getting a nice outfit together for once.

“Well look who’s awake early!” Annie said with a laugh in her voice as she entered the kitchen. “Good morning, dear.” She pecked him on the cheek before taking a glance at his hair. “Hmm, you should use the time to take a shower, Will. Looks a little oily.”

“Yes. Thank you, mom.” He droned as he took his seat next to Clifford and began to eat his breakfast.

Annie bustled around in the kitchen, making herself some tea to put in a thermos and cleaning a little bit. When he was done with breakfast and had put away his dishes into the dishwasher, he went up a floor to use the shower there. The bathroom downstairs was used for last-minute potty-breaks before work or school.

He locked the door behind him before discarding his pants and boxers on the small bench next to the toilet. He was about to enter the shower stall when the mirror reminded him to take off the aquamarine necklace. Will removed it and set it next to the rest of his clothes. It felt strange to not have something around his neck. Before, he’d always worn the chokers, and the past few days, he’d favoured the necklace. Still, he figured he could wear a choker again today. Didn’t have to wear that stone every day after all.

He tested the water temperature before stepping into the shower. As he worked up a lather of soap in his hair – he was half-aware that he was most likely using his mom’s hair products, but it made his hair look awesome, so why not? – he planned his outfit for the day. The tight black pants on the bench were fresh from his wardrobe, so those were definitely in, his favourite choker – the first one he got -  and some shirt. Perhaps the black leather vest he’d gotten at that goth store?

When he got out of the shower, he towelled his hair at least half dry, put his clothes back on and grabbed his necklace to go change upstairs. For some reason, he hadn’t really felt like paying much attention to what he wore this week, but that really couldn’t stay like that.

‘If nothing else, at least I can make it us look good.’ He figured as he pulled out the vibrant yellow long-sleeved shirt to wear under the vest. Once he was done getting dressed, he looked himself over once more in the mirror before sitting at his desk. He still had an hour before they would have to leave for school after all.

He spent that time looking for an art supply shop nearby. Even though he had planned to, he had yet to paint his walls or his night-table, and he needed paint and better brushes first.

_Doodly-Doo Doo, Doo-Doo Doo!_

He quickly reached for his upstairs phone and mumbled a quick “On my way.” Before shutting off his computer and heading out. On his way to the door, he paused as he regarded the necklace he’d taken off earlier. It wouldn’t even really be seen with this outfit, and he had grown used to feeling the weight over his heart.

He quickly grabbed it and hid it under his shirt.

 

\----------------------

 

They had English together.

How did he miss that?!

Will was comfortable ignoring Dipper, but Clifford kept shooting the brunette angry looks and was making it really hard to focus. Especially since Dipper kept staring at Will too. Now that he thought about it, their other English class had been the first they had on Mondays. So, of course, they would have missed that.

‘How the hell did this escalate so quickly?’

“Hey!” he whisper-yelled at his twin and bumped him with his elbow. “Stop it. You’re not making things better. Just ignore him.”

After his twin begrudgingly turned his attention back to Mr Robertson, the rest of the class passed relatively peaceful, but Clifford and Dipper kept riling each other up, Clifford disliking the way Dipper was eying Will and Dipper being antagonized by Clifford making rude gestures at him, despite Will’s warning to just leave it alone.

In the end, it had escalated to a point where the teacher had to step in, since the students sitting between Clifford and Dipper were getting anxious and unruly.

“Come talk to me after class.” Mr Robertson told the older Taylor in a serious tone that made the surrounding students whisper and look at him with pity. Later, Will tried to stay behind to diffuse the situation, but the teacher asked him to leave so he could talk to Clifford alone.

“Damnit.” He cursed and kicked the wall outside the classroom.

‘What if he gets in trouble?’ he worried. ‘We can _not_ afford to keep this going on!’

If this hostility continued growing the way it did, they might not even make it for much longer than a month before getting kicked out of their grade. And sure, right now it was Clifford who was under scrutiny, but Will knew that his older twin was far more responsible than him most days. It would be easier for Clifford to regain the teacher’s good grace and sweet talk his way out of trouble, but Will? Just by his looks alone, a few teachers had already thought of him as a troublemaker, and while he hadn’t had any trouble, he knew it would be harder for him if something like Monday happened again where a teacher could witness it.

Clifford and Mr Robertson left the classroom with a good mood surrounding them, proving his assumption correct. The teacher told them to step outside for a bit and the two boys went to meet their little group in the schoolyard.

“You can’t keep antagonizing anyone who looks at me weird, bro.” he tried to get Clifford to see what risks he was taking. “I can handle myself and I don’t want you to get into any trouble.”

“I don’t like him.” Clifford grumbled.

“Neither do I, but we can’t allow this to escalate any more. We might get kicked out of school.”

“They’d give us a warning beforehand.”

“Yeah. One.” He sighed. “I don’t like it either and I know I probably won’t listen to my own advice, but we have to just ignore him.”

“I believe we’d both have our problems with that.” Clifford chuckled, referring not only to his own protectiveness, but also to Will’s occasional temper tantrums and random flashes of anger. Both of which had been miraculously absent this week, except for Monday of course.

“I’m doing pretty well this week.” He hummed. “Perhaps the key is to really flip out once and kinda… overload? I dunno, seems like a bad idea though…”

“If that’s what it takes, you can go out into the forest and scream at the trees for a bit.”

“Heh.”

 

\----------------------------

 

Clifford spent his physics class alone and in biology, Cordelia basically chewed his ear off for being so weird during break.

“Okay, Cliff-nerd, what’s up?” she poked him.

“What do you mean?” he deflected in a hushed voice.

“You come late during break, Will is frustrated to all hell and back, then you just sit there silently while Will pointedly averts any conversation about the class you just had.” She placed a curled finger at her chin. “Hmm, _whatever_ could I possibly mean?”

He groaned. “We just had English. With the jackass.”

“Ah. You have Mr Robertson, right?”

“Yeah?”

“So he asked you to stay after class to talk to you, in a tone that told everyone you were in trouble, but then he proceeded to talk about your feelings?” she smirked at his surprised face. “I had him last year, he’s awesome, right?”

“He’s rather strict.”

“Please stop jabbering in the back!” the teacher called to them with a pointed glance over his glasses.

Clifford sunk into his chair.

Soon after, his attention was caught by a piece of paper being slowly inched towards him.

_Mr RBS is cool. Acts all strict and firm, but he’s a softie. If there is trouble, he diffuses any situations by getting the supposed victim ‘in trouble’, which usually makes any bullies back off for a bit. Dennis knows this very well, he told me. I never actually had him._

Well, he definitely had Clifford fooled. After everyone had left the classroom, the teacher had not scolded him, but had instead sat down and talked with him about what happened, why it happened and what he could do next time to keep the situation in his control. It had been really helpful actually, and he almost felt bad about not telling Will, but the teacher made him promise, because that’s the way his system worked.

_I was pretty surprised to see that what he does actually works. Nobody in the class gave any indication that I was not in trouble._

He kept an eye on the teacher and passed the paper back to Cordelia.

_We’ll talk in the break. You should pay attention, I know bio isn’t your strong suit._

He shrugged and smiled at her. She was right, he was terrible in the science subjects, but so far, Will had given him hints and tricks to fool people into thinking he actually knew what was going on. This way, his only obstacle would be the exams.

Which was still quite a large portion of his grade, so….

Probably better to keep his attention on class for now. Even if it was extremely boring. Really, he felt like time was moving at the speed of molasses.

Finally, the bell rang and the teacher dismissed the class.

“So!” Cordelia piped up immediately. “As I said, nobody except the kids he talks to actually knows. And since he’s so strict usually, everyone is on their best behaviour. I thought it was weird too, how well that seems to work.”

“You said he was Dennis teacher too?” he asked as he shouldered his bag.

“Yup. He had a bit of a rough patch last year, but thanks to Mr Robertson, if any of the assholes that bothered him then try it again, they’ll get kicked out of the school.”

“Seriously?” his eyes widened.

“Well-” Cordelia amended. “Not just because of him. They already had done some shit here, so they just need one more misstep and they’re out. Mr Robertson knows this, of course, and after pulling Dennis aside, he gave them their last warning on their last strike.”

“Oh. That’s still nice of him.”

“Sure is. Hey, what did he tell you anyway?”

“Basically the same thing Will keeps insisting on, to just ignore Dipper.” He shrugged. “Also, that he won’t actually do anything, but that doesn’t make it better. Just because he doesn’t initiate anything serious, doesn’t mean he won’t aggravate Will to start something. And then it’ll be on my brother’s head.”

“M-hm. You can’t get in trouble right?”

“Yes. _Immaturity_ or _violent tendencies_ will get us knocked down at least a grade and if we do something really bad, we’ll probably have to get home-schooled.”

“No other schools that were up to the challenge?” she hummed.

“Nope.”

“Fantastic.”

They met with the other three boys down by their table and took a seat.

“So, what’s the matter, you two?” Dennis asked.

“Mr Robertson had a talk with Clifford.” Cordelia supplied and he slapped his forehead.

“Ugh, really? Why didn’t you just say so?”

“Woah, you mean that stern English teacher?” Wirt’s brows rose.

“Seriously, man. Will, things are fine, Mr Robertson is a good guy, and if Clifford is the one he wanted to talk to, then he’s fine.” Dennis shrugged and took a bite of his sandwich.

“I gathered that he wasn’t in trouble.” Will rolled his eyes. “I just didn’t want to talk about Dipper.”

“I don’t know what got into him.” Wirt mumbled. “I-I tried asking, but he suddenly got so dismissive.”

Clifford stared at the brunette.

“Uh, w-what?”

“You’re friends with Dipper.” He accused.

“U-um, yeah? Sorta? Just, he doesn’t talk to me anymore.” The other boy looked about ready to bolt.

“Clifford, chill.” Will patted his shoulder. “It’s fine with me if you’re friends. Just, if you know how he usually is…. Can you tell why he might be acting like this? It’s…. strange. I never did anything to him.”

“Erm, you know, I can’t really-” Wirt searched for words. “We’re more like acquaintances, and… he just sort of helped me through a difficult time last year. It’s not like I really know him a lot.” He shrugged.

“You know,” Cordelia added. “Baby-bel says her bro is just paranoid, but if he’s being an asshole, I’d take your side over hers. You can’t just be a dick just cause you _think_ someone _may_ be a bad person. Especially if that person is a sweetheart.” She ruffled what she could reach of Will's hair.

“Well, I do know that he and Mabel both had some-” Wirt lowered his voice a bit and stared down at his hands. “problematic relationships, especially with the more- er… no offence?” he looked at Will.

“Nah.” He shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure he just dislikes punky kids?” he shrugged. “I know that while he helped me get over my ex, he was struggling with something too, and I’m pretty sure from the way he acts around you now, that it’s somehow connected to that. But I’m not sure.” He shrugged. “Sorry I can’t help much.”

“Nah, that already helped.” Will sighed in frustration. “Makes sense I guess. He’s pissed cause I remind him of his ex, and I suppose he has a similar protective streak for Mabel like Clifford has for me?”

 “Definitely.” Cordelia confirmed that “Maby-bel sometimes complains how he doesn’t give her enough space at times.”

There were a few moments of silence, with the goings-on's of the other students in the background being the only other noise.

“We got Shop next.” Will suddenly said, looking over his timetable. “Teacher is WIL. Hah. Look, it’s me.”

“Mr Wilson.” Wirt supplied. “I have the same class. And Dipper doesn’t have Shop.”

“Great.” Clifford stretched. “And after that, I get to stay here alone.”

“Haha.” His twin mocked him.

Dennis tilted his head at him. “What have you got?”

“Band.”

Wirt’s eyes lit up. “You’re in the band too?”

Clifford nodded. “I still need practice, but I used to play the violin. And I’ve picked it up again, so…”

“He sings too.” Will poked his cheek and grinned.

“Stop it.” Clifford batted his hand away with an embarrassed chuckle. Of course his younger twin had to mention that.

“You never told us that you sing!” Cordelia squealed.

“Leave the poor guy alone, Deli, it’s clear he doesn’t want to sing.” Dennis yawned and packed up the empty plastic box that had contained his lunch.

When the bell rang, Cordelia and Dennis parted ways from the rest of them to head to their own classes. The three boy’s Shop class was on the ground floor, so they took their time getting there. When they arrived, they still had a few minutes before class would actually begin, so Will chatted with Wirt while Clifford listened with one ear while writing nonsense into his notebook.

In a strange moment of awareness, he found himself blocking out the noise around him and

 

_He was singing a lullaby to Will._

_Their mom’s lullaby, for when they were too scared of the dark to sleep._

_And Will listened._

_And Will slept._

_It was all he did now._

_Listen._

_Sleep. Listen._

_Eat. Sleep._

_But at least he was alive. At least he was breathing._

_Still._

_He raised his voice once more._

for once, Clifford was very much certain that the mix of emotions he just recalled were very much real.

He still could not tell what the circumstances were, he only had his emotions and the sounds to go on, but he had a feeling that Will must have been sick at some point, perhaps even close to death.

Perhaps he could inconspicuously ask their parents about stories of them when they were sick or bedridden.

“Clifford Taylor?”

“Yes?” his head darted up and even as he did so, he heard Will giggle.

Roll call. Of course.

“Nice to see you’re here as well. Willard Taylor.”

“Heehee- here- hahahh.” Will spat out through his quiet laughing fit.

Thankfully, his twin calmed down quickly enough and soon, the boys – along with the rest of the class – were immersed in their tasks.

 

\----------------

 

“Well, then. See you nerds!” Will giggled before he hugged his twin, boxed Wirt lightly in the shoulder and ran off towards the gates.

Seeing as he had his Photography club yesterday and Clifford had been the one to go home first, he was glad it was his turn today. After all, the two of them did have a shorter weekend than the others. Their doctor's appointments and tutor lessons were going to take up the first half of their Saturday, and he still had to clean his room.

At least a little.

He felt his phone hum in his pocket and he went to check his messages.

 

_**Mabes, 1:25 PM:**_ _heyyy do u have classes still or do you head home now?_

_**Will, 1:25 PM:** _ _nah, I’m done, Clifford still has to stay for his club later._

_**Will, 1:25 PM:** _ _Why?_

_**Mabes, 1:26 PM:**_ _Same here,_ dip _has chess xD wanna meet at the gates?_

__

Will hesitated for a moment, eying the upcoming gates. Then he shrugged an leaned against the wall there.

__

_**Will, 1:26 PM:** _ _alright, I’m waiting_

_**Mabes, 1:26 PM:**_ _Cool, see ya in five, we went cooking so We still have to clean up_

_**Mabes, 1:27 PM:**_ _and walk downstairs… :P_

_**Will, 1:27 PM:** _ _what floor?_

_**Mabes, 1:27 PM:**_ _6_

_**Will, 1:27 PM:** _ _you’ll live xD_

He smiled to himself for a second, before the expression left his face again.

It was all moving so fast.

The teen was glad he and Mabel had such a good start, and that they got along well despite his differences with her brother, but he could tell that it was something that bothered the girl. Not only his friendship with her seemed to be moving too fast, but also with Wirt, and the animosity between him and Dipper grew just as fast.

Something was off, and he just couldn’t tell-

“What are you doing?” came a familiar voice from his right.

He groaned inwardly and tilted his head to face to look at the brunette who had chosen just that moment to sneak up on him.

“Standing against a wall, Pines.” He gestured at the brick wall behind him.

“Haha. Very funny. You know what I mean.” Dipper frowned.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re pissed because I’m waiting for your sis.”

“Why can’t you just leave us alone?” he growled.

“Is it so hard to believe that I just want to be friends?” Will sighed, trying to salvage at least part of the situation.

“Don’t give me that shit, I saw-” the brunette stopped himself and seemed to be considering something intensely, while never keeping his eyes off the semi blonde teen.

Will kept silent, hoping the other would simply drop the whole conversation and leave to go to his stupid chess club.

“Your eyes.” He grumbled while still glaring at him. “Your eyes were yellow.”

‘SERIOUSLY?!’ He stared at the brunette for a moment, utterly speechless.

That’s it.

Will pushed off the wall and closed in on the other. “Are you fucking serious?!” he shouted. “You’re giving all this shit, because of my eye!?”

“What?” Dipper stumbled back with a confused look on his face.

“For your information, it’s just this one” he held his long bangs away from his right eye and leaned closer to the slightly smaller teen. “that is not only a different colour, but also completely blind, because guess what, Pines, this is not. My. Eye.” He hissed down at Dipper. “And I’m not letting you ruin my-”

“Um, guys?”

The two boys startled and Will quickly backed off. When he caught Mabel’s eyes, he froze. She looked worried and scared and- and mad. Mad at him?

 

_“If anything like yesterday happens again.” She frowned. “I reserve the right to tell.”_

 

He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find the words. Will’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times, then he staggered back a couple of steps.

“Nevermind.” He croaked, before he turned and ran.

‘It’s over. That was the last straw.’ He gritted his teeth as he ran down the street towards his home. ‘She is going to tell, and the jackass is going to hate me more and I’ll lose my first friend before even getting a chance to get to know her.’

As he ran, he could feel the wind cooling his cheeks and his backpack thumping against his back and the stone in his necklace beating against his chest, mimicking the beating of his heart. He slowed down once he was a good distance away from the school and wiped over his cold – and wet? – cheeks.

_**‘Ugh, great, what a crybaby.’** _

He paused and panted as he listened.

‘Seriously? Now?’ he scowled. ‘Where the fuck were you this week?’ he asked as he started to correct his clothes a bit, pulling out the back of his shirt from where it had bunched up under the backpack and putting the stone back under his shirt where it belonged.

**‘Well, really it’s mostly your fault, I could’ve been-’**

Silence.

‘Hilarious. Stop it and answer me already.’

When he got no response, he grumbled some obscenities under his breath and began walking again.

The sooner he got home, the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we're finally getting somewhere....
> 
> See you next week >:D  
> Holly~♥


	22. Mind and Magic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everone!  
> Thank you all so much for the nice feedback, it really makes my day :D
> 
> And with this chapter, this story is now at 100,000 words!! (O_O)  
> I never thought I'd make it so far, and it's all thanks to you guys great comments and support, so give yourself a pat on the back from me!
> 
> That being said, enjoy!  
> Holly~♥

Will was in a bad mood.

He hadn’t talked much last evening, or today for that matter, and during their tutoring lessons, he’d been downright aggressive whenever he didn’t understand something. Clifford wasn’t sure if he said anything in their early-morning therapy sessions, but judging from Dr O’Cain’s exhausted look, he must have kept his silence. By now, Clifford was certain something had happened. But whenever he tried addressing the issue, Will grumbled at him and ignored his questions.

Then again, perhaps he was being a bit grumpy as well…

Band practice yesterday had been… strange. The band was great, and the practice went well too, but throughout, he couldn’t help but notice that Wirt hadn’t talked to him once, and seemed perfectly content to ignore his existence. Which had honestly hurt a lot more than he’d anticipated. Also, it was the final sign that Wirt really didn’t want to be friends with him. It was why Clifford left immediately after the band practice to avoid any awkward situations. He would have liked to walk with the other boy, but they were probably headed in different directions anyway. Not to mention that Wirt clearly didn’t care for his company.

The tip of the pen he was writing with broke off. He groaned and reached for his pencil sharpener.

Alright, perhaps he had been a little rough with Will when he asked if he was angry, but he was mad too. Even if he had no actual reason to take this so hard. It wasn’t like he actually knew the other boy, so it was irrational to get so upset about the whole thing.

In his own session, he’d asked Dr Bronson for his opinion, but he hadn’t been very helpful and downright dismissive about the whole thing, saying he was here to help with his coma-related stress symptoms, not some playground problems. Clifford was used to this attitude from his psychologist, but for the first time, he felt hard-pressed to ask Will if Dr O’Cain had the same opinion. And see if he could perhaps get a better therapist.

Their last tutoring session of the day finished up, and after they had bid their teacher goodbye and ‘have a nice weekend’, he went back upstairs to his room, Will doing exactly the same. Their mother was in the living room knitting and watching TV, so he just gestured to her that they would be in their rooms.

He entered his room, closed the door behind him and sighed deeply, sinking down to sit on the floor behind the door. Then, he reached behind him to turn the key in the lock. He wanted a little peace for now.

His room had not changed much, but it did look more lived in now than it did a month ago. Of course, he had stayed with the theme he had started with his ceiling lamp, leaf-light-garland and carpet, and had begun collecting stray leaves, which he had begun to hand up on the formerly bare walls. By now, the room looked – and smelled - more like a forest than a house, but it was very comforting. The potted plants he had also added to that feeling, and he always felt more at ease in his own domain.

Clifford rose to his feet again and walked over to his desk to retrieve his diary. He flipped to his last entry, where he was greeted with the last leaf he’d collected - one of the few stray brown leaves that already fell in August. Taking a small piece of colourful masking tape he’d bought, he walked over to one of the larger blank spaces on his wall and taped the stem to it. Then he returned to his desk, took a seat and picked up his favourite pen.

 

_ August 18 2018, Saturday _

_Note to self: talk about Dr. Bronson’s behaviour and perhaps request a new therapist?_

_Our tutor told me I am doing better than expected, so I won’t have to fear as much for my grades to slip._

There was a knock on the door.

“Yes? Wait a moment.” Clifford put his pen back and stood to unlock the door. On the other side, Will greeted him.

“Can we talk?” he mumbled, not meeting his older twin’s eyes.

“Of course.” He moved aside to let him in, then sat on his bed.

Quietly, Will came inside and closed the door behind him. He hesitated when he reached for the key and cast a questioning look at him, to which he gave a nod and a shrug. He locked the door and then quickly came over to curl up on the bed next to Clifford, laying his head on his legs.

In the silence that followed, Clifford began to absentmindedly brush his fingers through his twin’s hair.

“Did I tell you that…” Will trailed off and seemed to be struggling to find the right words. “After… Monday, there was- I didn’t get any response from- you know?”

He must have looked as lost as he felt when Will looked up at him. “From my other personality.”

“Ah.” He hesitated. “You usually get one, right?”

“Exactly! But after Monday, there was nothing, and I’m pretty sure he was actually _gone_ for a while.”

Clifford wasn’t sure how to respond to this. To him, it seemed as though the absence of the second personality was a good sign. But clearly, the absence of his other personality was rattling for his twin. He mentally kicked himself for not noticing sooner that something was off. Instead, he’d been caught up in his own childish jealousy, while completely neglecting to pay attention to his brother’s feelings.

“And… I think I am going crazy, because yesterday, he talked again.” He sat up suddenly. “Do you remember what this is supposed to do?” he pointed to the leather string around his neck leading to the stone hidden under his shirt.

Even though he had no idea what his brother was going on about, he decided to let him finish first. “Not really. Sorry.”

“It helps with spiritual awareness and becoming attuned to your own emotions, but it also has a protective nature that protects anything close to it from impurities and evil forces. It’s also ‘a stone of symmetries’ whatever that means.”

“Where are you going with this?” he took hold of his twin's shoulders.

“Don’t laugh.”

“Okay.”

“Also, please don’t say I’m crazy.”

“Alright?”

“It fucking silences my other personality.”

Clifford tried very hard to not make a face. He was certain he wouldn’t have known what kind of face he would have made anyway. He felt like Will was joking, but his face was serious, so the next reaction would be disbelief. However, he didn’t want to hurt the others feelings.

“I know you don’t believe me, but I need to talk to someone about this, so at least humour me?” Will asked with a desperate note to his voice.

The raven-haired twin sighed and ruffled the younger’s hair. “Fine. Go wild.”

“Thank you.” He breathed a sigh as well before launching himself into explanation. “Yesterday, when we talked again, he got cut off and stopped talking again. Now, I recall that was when the stone went back under my shirt. It got loose while I was running.” Will quickly explained when he saw his twins questioning glance. “Then, just now, I took it off, and suddenly, he was back. I got startled, that’s why it’s back in place for now. I went to look up the meaning again, and the whole ‘evil forces’ thing kind of freaked me out, so that stone is staying there for now. ”

“Can I-?” Clifford raised a hand.

“Okay?”

“What if this is your brain coping? I obviously have no idea how it works, but if your subconscious identifies your other personality as evil, after the shopkeeper gave us the stones, it might just have connected the two and it’s… doing something? I don’t know.”

 “Heh.” Will chuckled wryly. “Makes more sense than the magic stone, but it doesn’t really matter _how_ it works, right? Fact is, as long as that stone is on my skin, I won’t hear a peep. Well, okay, earlier this week I showered, now that I think of it, there was nothing then either….”

Clifford tilted his head when he detected a tinge of something guilty, or perhaps longing, in his twin's voice. “Do you _want_ to be able to talk to yourself?”

“You make it sound so weird!” he whined and buried his face in a pillow.

“Because it sort of is.”

“I just got used to doing it.” he mumbled into the pillow before lying down on his stomach and resting his head on his crossed arms. “So, yeah. I’d miss it. It’s not as lonely. I don’t know, bro. I just like having someone nearby to talk to.”

“Yet you give me trouble for wanting to spend some time with you?”

“No, I give you trouble ‘cause you couldn’t even leave me out of sight for a minute. You got better, but you’re still way too protective, man. I can take care of myself now.”

“Hmm.” He hummed softly. There was a short period of silence before he asked his twin what he was going to do.

 “Huh?” Will tilted his head.

“About the stone?”

“Oh.” He paused to think for a moment. “I think I’m going to wear it over my shirt for a while. If something like Monday happens again, I could just slip it back under, right? Do you think that could work?”

“I have no idea.” He sighed. “But it’s worth a shot.”

Will fidgeted with the leather string, before swiftly pulling it out from his shirt and letting it thump against his chest again.

 

\----------------------------------

 

**‘Well, that’s at least a start.’**

Will couldn’t help but grin. It had actually worked.

 **‘Of course it worked, kid. They don’t just _make up_ these myths about the stones you know.’** His other half grumbled.

‘Missed you too.’

**‘Yeah, yeah, stop the sappy shit and tell your bro everything’s fine, he looks like he might call the doc’s.’**

Will lifted his head to meet his twin’s eyes. Again with the creepy ‘I-see-things-you-don’t’-shit.

“Well, it does work how I thought it would.” He shrugged.

“Great. I have no idea if this is something that would help with your DID or anything, but… great.”

“I have no idea either.”

**‘Depends on how you see it.’**

‘Your voice sounds different. Well, your thoughts.’ He mused. It had taken a higher pitch than before, when it had been basically his own tone, just a little… off.

 **‘Wearing Aquamarine jewellery clears the mind and balances the emotions.’** He explained. **‘So, sure. Of course, it helps you differentiate between you and me. Sadly, it also heightens courage and inner strength.’** He grumbled in the mind-equivalent of mumbling under one’s breath.

‘Huh.’

He relayed this bit of information to Clifford.

“Weird, but I suppose that’s still good.”

“You know, it _is_ kind of nice being able to tell the difference. Occasionally, I’ve been thinking stuff and I wouldn’t know who of us thought it.” he laughed nervously. “And hey, we can conduct experiments!”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, about the stones? Then we could figure out if I’m just ‘making it up’ or not.”

“I didn’t say you were making it up!” Clifford rushed to correct him.

“I know, something about subconscious stuff, but that’s just it! I buy you a stone, you buy me one, but we don’t tell each other the supposed effects they’re supposed to have. Then we wear them and try to guess what they supposedly do.”

“I can tell you right now, mine didn’t do anything. Perhaps on that first day, I could concentrate better, but that could be something psychological too.”

**‘No wonder it didn’t do much for long. Your room isn't the one reeking of sage.’**

‘Because of the incense, right?’

“I read that incense is supposed to charge the stones. That or in the moon or sunlight, or with other stones, like amethyst? Perhaps your stone is running low on power.”

Clifford stared at him blankly and slowly shook his head. “This conversation is the most nonsensical and crazy one I have ever had, you might as well be talking gibberish and I cannot believe that I’m still going to go along with this.”

Will grinned before launching himself at his older twin and attacking his sides with his fingertips.

“You are so full of shit! You were the one making eyes at those herbal books in the shop!”

“Haha- that’s because - tea - heh heh - actually make sense- hah - body reactions to – stop it!” Clifford shoved at his body and hands before pushing him to the floor.

“Ah, ouch.” the teen groaned.

Clifford tried to catch his breath again, before jumping to his feet. Will squealed and quickly scrambled to stand as well before running away from his revenge thirsty brother. He ran downstairs as quickly as he could, sliding down the wooden poles in the middle to gain more distance, since Clifford downright refused to do the same.

Rushing through the kitchen, where their mother was currently cooking something, he called “Smells great!” as he ran by, Clifford close behind him.

“Thanks, hun!” Annie smiled at her boy's silly antics.

The chase ended in a standoff, with Will behind the couch and Clifford on the other side. The semi-blonde continuously mirrored his twin’s movements to keep the obstacle remained between them, until Clifford made an attempt to climb over the furniture to get him. He snickered and dropped on all fours, then scrambled away and around the couch to run back through the kitchen and up the stairs.

And that was exactly the moment when the doorbell rang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now we're getting somewhere, amirite? ;P


	23. Game Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! <3
> 
> It has suddenly occured to me that I've been at this for five months now :O  
> Didn't seem that long at all, honestly... xD
> 
> Also, there will be another oneshot for 'In Between' waiting for you on Wednesday called 'Insert winner here'. It taes place right after this chapter, but it didn't quite fit with the pacing for the main story somehow.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this one! Game on!  
> Holly~♥

Clifford, who was only halfway up the stairs, turned around and marched back downstairs to open the door.

“Hellooo!” Cordelia launched herself at him and hugged him. “Dude, why are you so out of breath?”

“Was chasing Will.” He explained as he backed away to let her inside.

“What did he do? Willy-Billy!” She called as she kicked her flip-flops off. “Your favourite person in the world is here!”

 Will came back downstairs and exaggeratedly looked around. “Where?”

Cordelia put a hand to her heart and feigned a hurt look. “That hurts, Will. Hurts me really bad.”

Then she laughed and went over to try and ruffle his hair, but he swiftly ducked out of the way.

“I brought some movies, I’ll go and make a pile in your living room, ‘kay?”

 “Sure, what have you got?” Will trailed after her, while Clifford stayed behind in the kitchen. He really needed a cup of tea right now. From the living room, he heard the two chatter on as he looked through the cabinet where they kept their tea.

“Mom, what kind of tea is this?” he held up a metal box with fancy designs on this. “And can I try it? It looks a little too fancy.”

“Sure dear, that’s just the box. And yes, it is a little more expensive, but it would be pointless to buy it if no one drank it, right?” Annie replied from where she was sitting at the desk, reading. “Oh, and it’s some fruit mix tea, it’s very good, I think you would like it.”

“Thanks.”

Will poked his head into the kitchen. “Cordy asks what smells so good.”

“I’m making Chilli con Carne.” Annie replied. “It’s almost done, about half an hour left.”

“Half an hour? That’s what you call almost done?” Will grinned.

“It cooks for 1 and a half hours, Will. I’ve been in the kitchen for over two hours today.”

“Oh wow.” He looked over to Clifford and spotted the box in his hand. “You’re making tea?” he asked.

“Yes. Do you want some as well?” he asked, taking out the tea filters. They had some tea that was already in teabags, but a lot that was just loose, so they had a couple of empty tea bags as well as some more goofy tea filters looking like flowers or a hippo. He picked a simple bag, the goofy plastic ones were harder to clean up afterwards.

“Nah. Cordy?” he called over his shoulder, then paused to wait for her reply. “Nah.” He said again and disappeared into the living room again.

While he waited for his tea, the older twin got curious and lifted the lid of the pot on the stove, and immediately, he got hit by a mouth-watering spicy smell.

“It does smell delicious.” He said while looking down at the mixture. “But it _looks_ a little strange.”

“And I saw some delicious looking hospital food, but I’m certain you know how great that tastes.” Annie fired back with a chuckle.

The alarm Clifford had set for his tea went off, and just as he had finished removing the tea bag, the doorbell rang again. “I’m on it!” he called into the living room, then he grabbed his cup of tea and went to open the door.

“Hello.” he stepped out of the way to let Wirt in.

“Hey.”

For a moment, he didn’t quite know what to do. He wanted to stick around, but he didn’t exactly have anything to talk about, so they would just stand in silence. And that would be awkward, so he simply told Wirt where to put his jacket and shoes, as well as where he would find them, then he went to join Cordelia and Will in the living room.

“Yaaaayyy, Dennis is here!” Cordelia exclaimed when he entered.

“Um, no. It’s Wirt.” he corrected.

“Oh god, you dork, did you just leave him alone?” She frowned. “Dude, that’s his first time here, you can’t do that to first-time guests.”

“Oh.” He tried to mask his discomfort by taking a sip of his tea. He didn’t think of that.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go check on him!” Will lightly punched his shoulder as he went past him.

He sat down on the couch next to Cordelia and pretended to not notice the judging expression on her face.

“I didn’t know, alright?” he mumbled. He did, but it just hadn’t been the first thing on his mind. “We only hang out with you and Dennis, so it’s just normal to me.” Even to him, his reasoning sounded ridiculous, but Cordelia actually bought it.

“It’s okay. He won’t take it the wrong way. I think.” She shrugged. “You’re still relearning some stuff, that’s fine.”

“What is?” Will came back into the living room, Wirt trailing in behind him.

“Clifford doesn’t get new guest rules because you guys only ever hang out with me and Dennis.”

“Ah. Okay.” Will nudged Wirt. “Go sit down, we’re just waiting for Dennis now.”

“What are we doing today?” Cordelia asked as Wirt took a seat next to Clifford on the couch. “We could play more of your games.” She gestured at the shelf in their living room containing their large collection of board games.

“Holy cow!” Wirt exclaimed when he caught sight of it.

“Yeah.” Will grinned. “I did a count of those, we have 148 board games just in this room. There are still kiddie games in the basement and attic though.”

“Where do you get so many board games?” he asked.

“Our parents love travelling, and every year they go to this giant board game convention somewhere in Europe.”

“It’s amazing, we played some really awesome games this summer break, and we’re nowhere near finished with all of them.” Cordelia added.

Meanwhile, Clifford simply kept silent and listened as he sipped on his tea. The others talked about the games they’d played so far, and which ones they had wanted to play next. Will went over and picked out the games they wanted to play last time, but couldn’t get to.

“Do you remember which one Dennis wanted to play?” he asked.

Cordelia shrugged. “Nope.”

“I think it was ‘What’s he building in there’.” Clifford took note of his brother’s confused staring at the wall of games. “The grey one, with the crazy scientist.”

“Aha!” Will spotted the game and stretched to get it out of its place at the bottom of the stack on the top shelf. “There we go. So we have this one for Dennis, the anime maid game that Cordy wanted to play, this is my pick” he took out a card game called ‘SET’, then placed the three games on the living room table. “And what do you want to play?” he directed the question at Wirt and Clifford.

“I wanted to play the game with the skulls and flowers the last time. I think it was called-”

“Skulls, got it.” Will turned to another, lower shelf and picked out the game.

“Um, I don’t know? I don’t know half of these games.” He shrugged. “Any of these are fine. The only games I play a lot are UNO and Monopoly.”

“We have two Monopoly games and two UNO games. Three if you count the kiddie version.” Will stated with a blank face, then snorted burst into laughter. “Man, we are such board game nerds, what the fuck!”

“I’ve been telling you that for a while, Willy-Billy.” Cordelia said in a sing-song voice.

“Oh, I’m very sorry, I must have missed that.” He grinned.

As the two continued their friendly bickering, Clifford found his cup of tea empty and himself without a distraction from the looks that Wirt kept throwing at him. Was it because he had left him alone?

“Sorry.” He mumbled at the other boy.

“Huh?” he tilted his head.

“What was that?” Will turned back to him.

‘Of course, he would just stop his play fight just to embarrass me.’ Clifford made an effort not to pout. Honestly, he was sure that wasn’t what Will had intended to do, but it felt like it that moment.

He huffed and stood. “Nothing. I’m going to get more tea. Do you want any?” he asked as he left the living room.

Will waved it off. “You know me.”

“Still nope.” Cordelia shrugged. “Tea’s not my thing, to be honest.”

“Um, what do you have?” he paused in the doorway.

“A lot!” Will exclaimed before Clifford could say anything. “Why don’t you just go with him and pick one?” he pulled the brunette out of his seat on the couch and practically pushed him into Clifford.

“O-oh, I wouldn’t want to be a bother, I can-”

“Nonsense. You two go, so we can keep arguing without you guys’ brooding.”

“I wasn’t brooding!” Clifford protested over his shoulder as he entered the kitchen. Annie was still reading at the table.

“You want to play games later?” she asked them.

“Um, yeah, why?”

“Well, depending on when Dennis arrives, I would leave you alone here, so it would be great if you could stir the chilli every fifteen minutes or so. We don’t want it to get burnt at the last minute.”

“Sure, we can do that.” Clifford agreed before opening up the tea cabinet. “What sort of tea do you prefer?”

“Do you have rooibos?”

“What?” he tilted his head.

“Red tea, dear.” Annie explained. “It’s behind the chamomile, top shelf.”

He pushed aside the other box and pulled out the indicated box to hold up for Wirt. “Is this it?”

“Ah, yes, thanks.” He reached for the box, hesitated, then took it and backed away. “Can I- Can I do anything?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Clifford could basically feel his mother’s judging gaze digging into his back. “Clifford.”

“Yes?” he grimaced.

“Why don’t you make the tea for Wirt, dear? And Wirt, I would like to have a word with Clifford if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, um, sure, sorry- I mean-” he fidgeted with the tea box before placing it on a counter and leaving the kitchen in a hurried fashion.

“Clifford, what is up with you?” Annie asked in a strange tone that was a mixture of gentle pressing and scolding concern.

“I don’t know.” He turned his back towards her as he prepared the tea.

“You are angry.” She observed. At times like these, he really cursed her for being so good a reading people.

“Perhaps.” He was, he realized. He was angry at himself for not paying more attention to what he was doing, for not noticing that instead of coming off as indifferent towards Wirt, he had instead acted rudely. He didn’t want to worsen the state of their almost friendship, but he didn’t exactly want it to improve too much either.

“And it has something to do with Wirt. You never act this way around Cordelia or Dennis.”

“I’m not angry at him.” He told her, hoping that wasn’t what he acted like.

“I guessed, if you were angry at him for something, he would know. You don’t get mad easily, I know that. So, you are mad at yourself, because Wirt…” she trailed off in a fashion that indicated he should fill the blanks for her.

“….” He sighed. “He is- Will has-” he stopped himself. They hadn’t told their parents yet about the situation with Dipper, and he had a feeling that telling her without Will there would inevitably hurt his twin.

But he really needed to talk about this, he knew that. So he sighed and sat down at the table next to her and leant his head on her shoulder.

“Promise you won’t let Will know I told you?” He asked in a quiet voice, aware that the others were just in the other room. There was no door installed there, so you could hear almost everything, but since Cordelia and Will were a little louder than him and Annie, he was certain they wouldn’t hear.

“I’ll do my best.” She combed her fingers through his hair softly.

“There is this other guy at the school who Will had a fight - more like an argument -  with.” He started and then everything came spilling out. “And Will his friends with the guy's sister, but I haven’t heard him talk about her since yesterday, and normally he always tells me about the stuff she texts him all the time, and… I think that her brother is undermining their friendship, and then Will would not only have no friends but also one, possibly two people who dislike him, and… he knew Wirt before I did anyways, and they have more in common than just being in the same class together.”

Annie was silent for a moment, then she hummed softly. “And what about you?”

“I don’t know? We both took Writing class, so I think he likes reading, but-”

“No, dear.” She interrupted him. “What about your friends?”

“…I have Dennis.” He defended. But the point she had just made was irritatingly obvious and he was getting frustrated just thinking about how stupid he was. He buried his face into her shoulder and groaned loudly. “I know, I know, and Will has Cordelia.”

“So, wouldn’t it be fairest if you both had Wirt as a friend. Because I am sure he wants to be your friend too.”

Just then, the doorbell rang, and simultaneously, Clifford’s alarm for the tea beeped.

He shared a look with his mom, then they both laughed and Annie stood to answer the door.

“I’ll try.” He promised her. Then he looked down at the tea and decided that if Dennis was here, and they were going to play, he might as well just call the others into the kitchen.

 

\----------------------------------------

 

With Dennis there, Annie left them to it and went upstairs. Clifford immediately took charge of stirring the food, something that Annie had apparently asked him to do, while Will set up their first game. Since the chili was almost done, they chose to play SET, since it seemed to be the shortest one. As well as looking like it would be easy to clean up, consisting only of cards and all.

“So, these are the rules.” Will looked over the instructions while Cordy shuffled the cards. “There are colourful shapes on these cards, and we have to make sets, which have to be…” he read through the instructions once more. “Uh. Okay, wait….. There are four categories of traits that these cards have. Shapes, number of shapes, colour and the texture of the shape. And a SET has to consist of three cards, which either have all the same trait in one category or all different.”

“What?” Dennis tilted his head. “No, no, let me- let me think.” He paused for a moment, then took the cards from Cordy and placed a few on the table.

“So….” He pointed to three cards in succession, one with three rectangles and completely filled out in red, the second one with three green rectangles that were white on the inside, and the last one with three purple rectangles and a sort of dotted pattern. “This should be a set? All have the same number and shapes, but colour and pattern are different on each.”

The others all looked down at the cards to confirm this.

“Yeeeaaaah?” Will stretched out the word and looked into the instructions once more. “Yeah. That. That’s it.”

He swore he felt his mind breaking. This was way harder than it seemed.

**‘Oh, this will be _fun_!’**

Will startled slightly. He had completely forgotten to put the stone back after the chase he had with Clifford.

**‘Ugh, please don’t, I’m dying of boredom.’**

“So,” Dennis took the instructions from his distracted hands. “we shuffle the cards, make a 4x4 field and when someone sees a set, he screams SET and shows the set, confirms that it is one, then takes it and someone immediately fills up the empty slots. This continues until the deck is empty and we cannot find any more sets. Most sets wins.”

There was a moment of silence that settled around the table.

“….I’m gonna win!” Cordy exclaimed and started dealing the cards.

“I’m gonna lose.” Wirt mumbled.

And then chaos broke loose.

The game was perhaps designed to be chaotic, but after a few calls of SET, it became clearer to them what they were supposed to be looking for, and every couple seconds someone found another set, which made it harder and harder to keep the empty spaces filled. Within no time at all, they were already done with the game.

“18.” Will announced proudly.

“And you got all the mismatched ones too, what the fuck. 15.” Dennis placed his counted SETs on the table.

“I got 5.” Cordy pouted.

“6.” Wirt shrugged. “You guys were going way too fast.”

Clifford crossed his arms and glared at the empty table in front of him. The look on his face made Will chortle.

“I’m sorry, bro.” he tried to comfort him through his chuckles, but he could tell it was only mildly effective.

“We still have time, why don’t we play Skull? It should be relatively short as well.” He asked before standing up to stir the food.

“Loser gets to pick, sure.” Dennis shrugged and cleaned up the SET cards.

Cordy reached over to the counter where they had placed the other games and took the next game from its place on top of the stack. “I’m gonna read the instructions.”

While Cordy read out the instructions, the boys squabbled over which colour they were going to take. There were large cards made of hard carton, one bigger square one as a place for the other cards and a counter for points-

“-when you win a bet, you turn it around, and if you win the second bet, you turn it again and win.-”

\- and four round cards, three of them with a type of flower on it and one with a skull.

“Come on, this one looks like a dead voodoo doll.” Dennis held up the brownish yellow cards before discarding them.

“I’m taking orange!” Will grabbed the roses.

“Fine with me.” Clifford chuckled. “I’m taking the Viking and thistles.” He picked out the green cards.

“Don’t start, man, the skull looks like those Mexican death festival things.” Will defended his choice and held up the skull for him to see.

“Can I have Blue?” Wirt asked.

“Sure, then I’ll take red, I love the samurai skull.” Cordelia agreed.

The game itself was an interesting mixture of luck and conning the others. In the first round, everyone would have to place one of their cards face down, and then they could either keep placing down cards or make a bet.

“I bet-” Clifford started after everyone had placed their first card.

“Already?” Will gave him a look.

“I’d rather bet I’ll be able to find… 2 flowers now, instead of later, when there could be more skulls in there as well.”

“Hm.” Will hummed and looked down at his cards. He had put down his skull, so he wouldn’t be able to bet. If he actually said he would find three flowers – with five cards total – he was sure no one would raise the bet to four, so as per the rules, he would have to flip all of his own tiles first, and exposing a skull meant losing one of your cards.

“I’ll pass.” He said.

Their friends all passed as well, and Clifford was the only better left, so he flipped his own tile to reveal his flower. Then he looked around the table, looking each of them in the eyes to gauge their reaction. After revealing all the cards you played, you could pick any card from any player and if they had more than one card lying in front of them, you could just take the top one and leave the other.

“Dennis?”

He flipped his card. A white Orchid.

“There. Two Flowers.”

“Oh, I get it now.” Wirt smiled and everyone picked their cards back up as Clifford flipped his tile.

Now, Will was the first player. He laid down a flower this time. He could only win if he could make a bet, right?

**‘Or we could systematically make them flip skulls until you’re the only one left who has any cards.’** The voice of his other half piped up. **‘The rules say you are disqualified if your last card is revealed to be a skull.’**

‘That sounds very unlikely to happen, though.’

After everyone had laid their first round, he added another flower to his stack.

“I bet I can find 2 flowers.” Dennis said.

“I bet I can find 3.” Wirt raised the bet immediately.

‘He has to have a flower. No way he’d be this quick if he didn’t’

**‘That makes three with our two, so we just have to be lucky with one more.’**

Cordy and Clifford both passed, but she was a little quicker than Clifford, who deliberated for a long while.

“I bet I can find 4.” Will said. Dennis shook his head and Wirt passed as well, so he flipped his two cards and then went for Wirt’s, which was indeed a flower.

‘Dennis started betting, so he should have a flower, right?’ his was already reaching for it when he was interrupted.

**‘Or he could be bluffing.’**

‘Huh?’

**‘If he starts with two flowers, and there are six cards, of course, one of you will raise the bet.’**

He paused, then stared Dennis down for a couple of moments. A twitch of his mouth confirmed this.

“That is…. You-” his hand, which was still hanging in the air, changed its course and flipped Clifford’s card.

“There. Point for me.” He grinned and flipped his tile, before shuffling his cards to give his hands something to do.

In the next round, they actually got up to two cards each before Dennis made a bet to find four.

Will had put down a flower and then a skull, so he wouldn’t be able to bet. But he could still pretend that he could, so when it was his turn, he thought a long while before passing, just as the others had before him.

Dennis flipped over his two flowers and took a look around the table before flipping Wirt’s first tile.

“One more.” He mumbled and looked around.

He turned over Cordy’s tile and they had their first skull staring back at them.

“HA! I get to take one of your cards!”

“Blind.” Dennis corrected her. “And no one gets to see what it is, it goes straight in the box.”

They maneuverer a little so the box was in the middle of the table and he only had to hold his cards face down above it and Cordy slid one of them into the box.

In the next round, after Wirt placed his third card down, Cordy made a bet to find five. Will raised it to six and after everyone else passed, he went to flip his won two flowers plus the two that Cordy had to have – he was right. Then he looked over the other’s stacks trying to recall how they’d reacted before.

He flipped one card from Wirt, a flower. And another from –

Clifford had a skull o top of his stack.

“Damn it! I was so close!”

“Give me your cards, Will.” Clifford smirked.

And just like that, he’d lost his skull.

‘At least now we can only win.’ He kept his face as blank as possible and they continued playing.

In the fifth round, Cordy started playing cards and made her first bet immediately.

“Three flowers.”

There were five cards lying on the table, so no one raised the bet. She turned her own, Dennis’ and Will’s cards and had her point.

“How?!” Wirt looked at her like she just walked up the wall and disappeared headfirst into the ceiling.

**‘Now that is an idea!’**

“I’m a witch.” She said mysteriously as she flipped her tile.

In the rounds that followed Dennis lost another card and them Will was on his bet to find five flowers in seven cards.

“Good luck, Willy-Billy.”

He flipped his own two cards and then the two Dennis had played. The other hadn’t looked at his cards once as he played them.

“Four Flowers, one to go.”

‘I know Cordy is too risky to pick from, and I don’t know Wirt too well….’ He flipped over Clifford’s card.

“Yes! I win!” he flipped over his tile and danced a little in his seat.

“Great, and dinner is ready in-” Clifford leaned back to press the timer button on the oven. “- two minutes, so we should set the table. Can you go ask mom what to do with the food once the timer goes off?”

“Sure.” Will tossed his cads to his brother and headed upstairs. “What are we supposed to do when the oven makes noise?” he called into his parents’ room.

“Just take the food, turn off the stove and eat! There is some baguette too.” Annie called back. He quickly turned around and went back downstairs to do just that.

Pretty soon, all five teens were seated at the table and enjoying the food.

“Your mom has to give me this recipe,” Cordy hummed between bites. “Remind me to ask her.”

“What should we do after dinner?” Dennis asked.

Will leaned to the side to get a glance at the clock of the stove past Clifford. “Well, it’s 3 PM now, so we have a lot of time. I’m sure we can play one or two games and watch at least one movie. Probably more.”

“I got the Breakfast Club, anything else is on the Taylor’s DVD collection.” She waved a hand in the general direction of the living room. “What about sleeping arrangements?”  

“We got a big mattress set up in my room, and one smaller one in Clifford’s. So, two of you in the attic with me, one with Clifford.”

“I’m going upstairs,” Dennis announced quickly. “I can’t sleep in your room, sorry Clifford. I need darkness.”

“You sleep with lights on?” Wirt asked with a raised eyebrow.

Clifford narrowed his eyes at him. “Yes, why?”

The brunette quickly waved his hands. “I-I didn’t mean it in a bad way, just, I-…” he darted a look around the table, then averted their eyes and kept eating.

Will darted a look between Clifford and Wirt. He was aware that Clifford had problems with Wirt somehow, it was the reason why he pushed them into the kitchen earlier, so they would get over it somehow. But apparently, it hadn’t worked.

‘It feels odd to just hang out with Wirt without Clifford there. We don’t have anything in common and I’m sure I’m boring him to death with my blabbering.’ He sighed and nudged a bean with his spoon.

**‘Oh, come on! You have the perfect solution right here, just convince Cordy to room with you and Bland Boy and they’ll _have_ to talk sooner or later.’ **

He darted a look at Cordy and poked her with his foot. She met his eyes and he made a poor attempt to tell her merely through inconspicuous gestures that ‘You need to sleep in the attic with me and Dennis so that Clifford and Wirt can sort out this weird-ass mood they’re spreading.’.

Needless to say, she looked very confused.

He rolled his eyes. He’d have to try later. For now, he just had to keep her from saying she’ll stay in Clifford’s room. Seeing as he was the only one who still had a little on his plate, he finished up his food quickly before stretching.

“So, everyone done with their food? I can take these.” He stood and began collecting the dishes, only to dump them in the sink. “Come on, bro. Help me put all this-” he gestured at the table. “Somewhere else, so we can play.”

He managed to convince his twin to just leave the dishes for later, and within no time, they were seated at the table with the two remaining games in front of them.

Dennis inspected the covers and summaries. “So, a game about putting together a staff of anime maids, or a game about creating the best doomsday device.” He paused to think. “I vote for the evil mad scientist.”

He placed his hand on top of the game box, to which Cordy responded with a hand on the smaller, pink box of the card game.

“This is a deck-building game, and it has hot anime girls.” She argued.

“Oof, guys.” Will put his hand up and wavered between the two. “I think I’ll have to join Dennis. Sorry Cordy.” He apologised.

“BETRAYAL!!” she yelled and punched him in the shoulder. It stung a little, but it was just in good fun.

He looked at his brother, who was studying Cordy’s puppy eyes. “Convincing, Cordelia…. Buuut-” he slapped his hand onto Wills.

“Ugh, fine.” She put the card game away. “Even if Wirt votes for it, it won’t be enough, and you don’t strike me as a weaboo anyways.”

“Alright, how do you play this mess.” Clifford stared into the box. Will looked over and began to take out the little plastic bags that he was sure were courtesy of their parents.

“Money. Cards. More Cards. Wood pieces. Big hard cards. Small cards in a box. Looks easy enough.” He felt over the floor of the box. “Where are the instructions?”

His twin deadpanned at him and tilted the box, which made the playing board fall out along with the rules.

“Ah.”

Their friends laughed at the stupid face he was certainly making now.

“Anyway!” he picked up the instructions to hide his face behind. “This is our game: ‘What’s the place to be in the Evil Doctoring World of the late 1800’S? London, England. What’s your plan? Find a cheap warehouse somewhere to build your Doomsday Machine. Scotland Yard is on your trail, however, so in addition to your Doomsday Machine, you’ll have to build and Escape Plan.’ Yadda, yadda, be the best Evil scientist, now go destroy the world.” He flipped through the rules while the others laid out the board in front of them.


	24. Lullaby of the Forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody!
> 
> Thank you all for the nice review I keep getting, it really helps me keep up the writing :D  
> (I never thought comments were this effective, holy cow xD Whenever I get one my brain goes: "WRITE! NOW! We can't let these people down EVER!", so yeah, thank you all! xD)
> 
> And oh my god everyone, it's almost christmas soon! Next week is already the 23rd (/^w^)/~♥
> 
> See you then and have fun with this weeks chapter!  
> Holly~♥
> 
> EDIT:   
> Don't be surprised if it's going to say the story got an update, but you can't see it yet. I'm going to be away from home (i.e. my laptop) for the holidays, so I'm going to upload the chapters beforehand, so you still get them on time ;D

“Woah.” Cordelia looked down at her figurine on the 78 victory points spot. Right behind her was Clifford with 77. “I just barely didn’t lose.”

“Great. And I didn’t even win _just barely_.” Will grumbled. He had gotten a total of 102 victory points.

“And the winner is…” Dennis waved a hand at Wirt. “The guy who said he only plays Monopoly, with a whopping 120 points. Congrats.” He cleaned his henchman off its place on the 96.

“…so.” Will started. “Movie?”

In a very fast chain of events, Will had dragged Cordelia and Dennis out into the living room to pick the first movie and suddenly, Clifford was alone with Wirt once more.

He took the material cards everyone had collected and began to sort them back onto their stacks. Wirt shifted in his seat before taking the plastic bags from the box and putting back the wooden pieces. With the two of them working together in silence, they made quick work of returning the game back into its box.

Once they were done, Clifford stood and turned to the sink, which was still full of their dirty dishes. He sighed and began to put them into the dishwasher, half hoping Wirt would go with the others and leave him alone.

“H-Hey, Clifford?”

‘Damn it.’ he cursed inwardly.

“Yes?”

Wirt fidgeted with his hands. “Do you- I mean, a-are you avoiding me? I-I mean I know it’s, um, a little difficult, with everything that’s going on with Dipper, so-”

Clifford looked up from his work. He _did_ say he would try.

“I-If you want me to leave-”

“Don’t.” Clifford interrupted and stood from where he was crouched by the dishwasher. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that.”

“Oh, of c-course, sorry I just assumed that…” he trailed off.

“And you’re right.” Clifford admitted. “I was avoiding talking to you.”

“Because of Dipper and me being friends?”

“I did that before we found out you were friends.” He sighed. “I just… You didn’t really talk to me much either. And since you actually met Will before - and not just because of some group project - I figured…”

“Um, to be honest, I don’t… I don’t really like to talk much?” he shrugged.

“But you two get along so well.”

“I, um actually felt like, I mean, I’m apparently wrong, but I thought- …..” he mumbled the rest of his sentence too quietly for Clifford to hear.

“What did you say?”

“I- I thought we were getting along. Better, that is, than me with Will.”

Clifford turned to face him and stared at him for a long moment. “Heh. And here I thought it would be better to back off and let you be friends with Will.”

“Well, I am friends with Will, but…” he hesitated in this way that made Clifford know exactly who he was going to bring up next. “…I’m also friends with Dipper. I think. He doesn’t talk to me much anymore, but- what I meant is…” he trailed off.

Clifford chuckled. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I was sort of assuming one could only be friends with one person.”

“That’s dumb.”

 

_“That’s dumb. I’m not just gonna wander around in the woods for the rest of my life.”_

“……Of course you wouldn’t.” he mumbled.

“Huh?” Wirt tilted his head.

The raven-haired boy shook his head. “I mean, it kind of was, wasn’t it?”

“….You just did that thing again.”

“What thing?” he asked.

“You did that at the end of the game too, the- the whole staring into the air thing.”

Oh god. He frowned. “I did?” He knew he did, but he thought no one had noticed. Cordelia had collected a whole bunch of wood towards the end of the game, since she didn’t know where else to place her figures, and then Will had asked who or when one would need that much wood and-

 

_There was none left._

**_(Need to find more)_ **

_He knew what he was looking for, those who were asleep too long._

_But it seemed that there were no more. They had either disappeared or-_

**_(You said you would help me)_ **

_And he had. He was still alive, was he not?_

_But not for much longer._

**_(Need to find more. Where did they all go?)_ **

_They are all gone. And those that can leave will do so as well soon._

**_(What does that mean.)_ **

_He could make them stay. Make them sleep too long._

_And then_

**_(And then)_ **

**_He was whole again. He found the solution to his problem._ **

**_Now he just needed a few lost souls._ **

 

\- then there was that. “I thought it didn’t last so long.”

“Yeah, what exactly- why does that happen?” Wirt asked. “You stared at the table for a good minute, we had a whole conversation about it.”

“You did?” Now that was something that startled him. That things were going on around him and he didn’t even notice? It sounded like something that could be very dangerous for him. “I didn’t hear any of it.” He shook his head and returned to his work. “And really, it’s not that serious anyways, just a little daydreaming.”

“You looked like you’d just seen a ghost.” Wirt really had him backed into a metaphorical corner there.

“It was just a memory. Or a dream. Or something, I don’t know what it was, but I very much dislike it and I would be much happier if it didn’t happen at all.”

“What was it about?”

“I thought you weren’t one for conversation.” He chuckled wryly, but then sighed and began to talk, careful to keep his volume low so his twin wouldn’t hear. “It’s hard to explain. There are times when I’m sure I am remembering something real – don’t tell Will that, by the way, I don’t want him to feel bad for not remembering anything.”

Wirt raised a brow at him.

“Yes, yes. I know I’m overprotective and I need to loosen up. But that’s just the thing with the other kind of …” he searched for a word. “…things. I can’t tell if they’re memories or dreams or memories of a dream, but I do know that Will is in danger and I’m the only one who can help. It’s terrifying.” He whispered that admission.

He finished up and turned around to lean against the counter.

“Anyways, I’m sorry for being rude earlier. Honestly, I don’t know what got into me.” He offered his hand. “Can we start over?”

Wirt nodded and shook his hand. “Sure. And-” his eyes darted off to the side. “I’m sorry for the- the memory thing. I-… I know what it feels like, to be the only one who can help.”

“Your little brother?” he tilted his head.

“Greg and I… we didn’t always get along as well as we do now. And I think I- I don’t know. There was this… thing and-” he seemed to have trouble finding the right words. “Just. I know what you mean. With the whole- little brother in danger thing.”

“Thanks.” Clifford nodded and picked up the game boxes, then tilted his head towards the living room questioningly.

Wit nodded and they went over to join the others.

 

\------------------------------------

 

They ended up watching three movies in a row. Breakfast Club had been first, then it was only 7 PM so they watched another.

And one more.

Will would have gone for a fourth, but Clifford needed some fresh air, so he stepped outside for a while, and when he returned, the others had cleaned up the living room a bit and had decided to head upstairs and hang out in Will’s room.

He sighed deeply, for no reason in particular, and made his way upstairs as well.

“- _do_ want to paint that with something at some point, but I haven’t really gotten to it so far.” He heard Will say as he drew near.

When he opened the door, he was greeted with a surprisingly clean room. Will must have cleaned it in between their tutoring session and the talk they had earlier. On that note, Will had also lit up another one of those sticks already, but had also cracked the window.

Clifford was certain the smell must have penetrated every possession Will had by now.

“So,” he started and looked down at the four others lounging on the bed and the mattresses on the floor. “what now?” He sat down in the gap left between the bed and the mattress and leaned back against his brother’s nightstand

Will shrugged. “I dunno. Cordy?”

“Uuuuuh….?”

Dennis shook his head. “I’m out of ideas. We tried almost everything by now.” He paused, then poked Wirt in the side, which made him squeal. “What about you?”

“What?”

“Sleepovers. What do you want to do? What do you usually do?”

“Um.” Wirt sort of shrank back a little. “I haven’t really- …been to- that many sleepovers? And I’m fine with whatever you like to do, really!”

“We have no ideas, man!” Cordelia moaned. “We could always play: ‘Hey, do you _not_ remember that?’”

“Huh?” Wirt raised a brow at her.

“It’s ‘Hey, do you remember that’ for me and Dennis. We basically just tell Will and Clifford stories. Most of which we don’t even remember fully. You know, the sort of stories you can almost remember, but then your parents tell you their version and it sort of mixes together in a weird way?” She explained.

Wirt nodded very slowly in a way that told Clifford he didn’t get it at all.

Will seemed to catch that as well. “Why don’t you just tell us one?”

Cordelia hummed and thought for a moment before Dennis spoke up.

“I think I have an idea.” Once he had everyone’s attention, he continued. “So, in second grade, summer break, Cordelia went to visit her family’s old home in Ireland, remember?” he directed at her.

“Oh my god! Yes, I came back and was so convinced ghosts were real!”

“What?” Will quirked a brow.

“I think you skipped something?”

“Yeah, that was-” she laughed. “Actually pretty scary. We went to visit granny, and she showed us this burnt down building in the middle of nowhere, and she said-” Cordelia cleared her throat and then rumbled in a slightly deeper and scratchy voice. “’This is what happens if you don’t watch the fire. It’ll burn down your entire house while you sleep and scorch the skin off your bones.’”

“Jesus Christ!“ Clifford made a face.

“Yeaaah, my parents stopped her before she scared me more. But apparently, that building did belong to our family, I think she gave it to my mom in her will.” She mused. “Anyways, it’s like, centuries-old or something, and I think it originally belonged to like, the sister of my great-great-grandmother or something. Granny never got to tell me what actually happened, but she did tell me that ‘ghosts of the past wander those halls’” she rumbled. “So, what does a little adventurous kid like me do?”

“Ghost hunt?” Will grinned.

“You know it!” she laughed. “Well, yeah… turns out- turns out she was right. There were ghosts.”

She must have felt the disbelieving stares of her friends. “Honestly.”

“Are you quite sure that wasn’t your granny playing a trick on you?” Clifford asked.

“Definitely not, she had a used to flip whenever I tried to cross over into the perimeter of her family’s old mill, the stuff that was in there had been untouched for centuries. She is very superstitious; which I guess I can see why.”

“Okay, but what happened?” Will asked.

“Well, I’m pretty sure now that it was just a weird dream, but… this is what happened: I had taken a flashlight and went across the field behind my granny’s house. There was a forest there, the mill was somewhere in there, don’t ask me how I even managed to find it, I’m pretty sure I just had that dumb kid luck.” She took a breath. “And it was very, _very_ unstable. The whole night was probably just one giant stroke of luck for me, I wouldn’t do that today. Anyone could have been in there, nu-uh, thank you. Anyways, there was all this… really old and burnt stuff, and upstairs, there were still what I think were beds at one point?” She shrugged. “There were like a dozen of them, really, must have been a big family, I remember thinking. I actually cried for a bit when I found this old toy. It was a metal top, so it must not have gotten burnt, but it was just so sad.” She teared up as she spoke. “I knew my granny was serious about fire safety, but that- that was terrifying to me, that a fire could do so much damage. And then things started getting _really_ scary.” She wiped at her eyes.

“Because, I swear on my granny’s grave, I heard voices. Little kid voices, and they were convinced someone was in their room. It was really awful, I started crying, and then they cried as well and it just kept getting worse until there was this older voice telling everyone to shut up.”

Will snorted.

“I know right?!” she laughed. “And I thought that was sort of funny too, so I laughed. And I calmed down pretty fast. The girl kept saying it wasn’t real, and I _swear_ I saw something move on the beds, but when I looked again it was gone. It was still really scary, and I mean I was a kid, so I said-” she giggled. “I said: ‘I’m sorry for waking you up, I’m gonna go home now, good night.’ And then I just left.” Cordelia laughed. “It was so dumb, honestly, I’m pretty sure it was just a dream. Especially because of the next part, the girl actually offered to bring me home. So I walked back through the forest, and she actually corrected me and I did find my way back home, so… pretty sure that wasn’t real. I mean, I think if a seven-year-old girl went for a midnight stroll in a dark forest in the Irish countryside…. Ehhh.” She made a disbelieving noise. “I don’t think so. Also, ghosts? Nah. I still totally believed I did that the next morning, but my parents must have come to the same conclusion - about it being a dream - so they told me rather mildly to not go outside at night. My granny completely flipped though, she banned us from visiting again and locked my room’s door at night for the rest of that visit.”

“Holy shit.” Will’s eyes widened.

“Yup.” Dennis affirmed. “And she kept talking our ear off about ghosts afterwards. The accident didn’t make it better, she was convinced she visited her dead relatives.”

 “Must have been some crazy fever dream-memory thing.”

Clifford raised his head at that. “That’s a thing?” he asked, carefully phrasing his actual question so they wouldn’t suspect anything.

“I guess it is.” Cordelia shrugged. “I mean, I may have kind of under-exaggerated what happened during and after the accident. I nearly died, so… must have been some hallucination mixed with the stuff they pumped into me at the hospital.”

“W-wait a minute.” Wirt spoke up suddenly and gave her an intense look. “You nearly died?”

“I think we all did.” Will shrugged. “The accident was apparently pretty bad.”

Dennis shuddered. “You have no idea.”

“Yeah, Will and Clifford were _really_ almost dead, and I think Will actually died for a couple minutes when-”

“What?!” Will shot up. “I didn’t know that!”

“Uh, yeah, your mom told me that once, when you were still in the coma, one day you just died. It was a giant load of crazy, apparently, because at the same time, Clifford began to show signs of waking up, but then he went back under, you _somehow_ came back-”

“Holy fuck, I’m a motherfucking _zombie_?!” Will grabbed his hair.

“Nah, just your brain died - 'just' in the sense of 'not you body as well' - for like, half a minute or so? Which really confused everyone present, the doctors went bonkers when they saw this. Personally, I think they must have been about to dissect you for some sort of ‘anti-death-gene’, but I didn’t want to freak out your mom. Especially since during that time, there was this thing about comas anyway, that no one really was supposed to address with the victims families’, but they knew anyway?”

Dennis rolled his eyes. “She’s talking about The Deathbed. It was this crazy conspiracy theory a few years back about how when you fall unconscious while in a possibly life-threatening state - like with a big wound or while very sick – then you would fall into a coma and die.” He groaned. “Really, so the hospitals may have been using second-rate equipment for a while, they had a lot of problems with that and lots of people stopped trusting them, which made everything worse, because now lots of people are dying at home too.”

“How did we even start talking about so much death?” Clifford asked.

“Cordelia’s ghost story.” Wirt supplied with a grim face. “By the way…. What exactly- Do you remember that… fever dream?” He visibly tried to be casual, but it was clear he was really interested.

“Oh yeah!” she beamed. “I felt like I was sleeping, and when I woke up, I was lying in a meadow under two trees. They looked really interesting, probably because they grew so close to each other, they were bent and crooked exactly the same. You could actually see where the wind pushed into them and stuff. We had something like that near our old kindergarten, I have to show you sometime. I stood up and started walking around, and wow, was I scared. I think I might have cried a bit. Since I didn’t know what was going on, I started calling for my parents and ran into the forest.”

Clifford sat up a little straighter, interest peaked. There was something there, wasn’t there? Hadn’t he-

 

_Willard was nearby. That was really the most reassuring thing, since he was sure he would have been more scared if he were there alone. Willard’s best friend Cordy was sitting at their feet, and she was looking up at them._

_“Huh?” she suddenly sat up and looked around._

_“Where am I?”_

_‘I don’t know.’ Clifford replied and looked around. They seemed to be in the middle of a forest._

_“Hello? Is somebody there?!”_

_‘We are, Cordy!’ Will said._

_“Anybody?” Now she looked as if she was about to cry._

_‘Didn’t you hear?’ he asked. ‘We are standing right next to you!’_

_And in a moment of clarity, he realized how small she really was. And how little he could move. And then Will began to cry as well._

_“What is going on? Mammy!? Daddy!??” Cordy began to run away into the forest._

_‘No, please stay with us!’ Will screamed after her. ‘Don’t leave us!’_

_She never came back to them._

 

\- remembered something like this before? He furrowed his brows. This was starting to get very suspicious to him.

“And I ran for a long time, and I called for my mom and for my dad and for you guys-” she gestured at them. “-and then I found the ghost mill.”

“Seriously?” Will chuckled.

“Don’t shame my subconscious kid-brain for connecting weird things!” she defended. “But yeah, it actually looked really nice, like it had just been built. And there were kids playing outside, so I went to ask if their parents were there, because _of course_ , all parents know each other.” She said sarcastically.

“In our neighbourhood, they do.” Dennis added in a way of trying to excuse the assumption.

“Exactly, and guess what? They were really happy to see me for some reason, but they insisted I should head home quickly. And I told them that I didn’t know the way, and then they brought me inside and sent the rest of their kids outside so they could have a talk with me.”

“Now that sounds suspicious.” Wirt raised a brow.

“Dude, it was my imaginary family that died centuries ago, I think dreaming of that in the first place is already pretty crazy.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, old lady and old man – maybe my great-great-whatever aunt and uncle, maybe not – they told me this long ass boring story about finding your way and making a decision to go, and it was so boring I fell asleep.” She made a popping sound with her mouth. “Aaand then I was in a hospital bed. Tadaa.” she spread her arms apart.

“Kind of anticlimactic.” Will poked her shoulder from his spot on the bed.

“Oh sue me, my fever dream doesn’t make sense, wooow, great observation.” She clapped slowly.

Will responded by hitting her with a pillow. Clifford barely managed to get out of their line of fire before the two duked it out with their pillows and sheets. All of a sudden, it had become too much for him. He was sure he was very close to figuring something out, but it with all this noise in the background…

“I need to go to the bathroom.” He notified the two boys who were still receptive to him and left the room directly afterwards. He walked over to the stairs and sat down by the balustrade, sticking his legs through the gaps between the wooden posts and let them dangle as he thought.

That couldn’t have been a coincidence, right?

Cordelia having a fever dream that seemed to coincide with what may have been his own?

‘I mean, trees? I remember not being able to move, but…. And there were two, so the scene would have definitely been the same.’

Thinking hard, he tried to recall other memories that might have some sort of relevance, despite not seeming real. It was difficult, since he had dismissed most of them, but the one he had of Wirt was still very much there.

‘If,’ he dared to think. ‘ _if_ somehow this whole thing is real in any way - spiritual connections or fever dream or what else it might be – then Will would have dreamt the same thing, wouldn’t he? I dreamt he was there, Cordelia said there were two trees-’ he still didn’t get why they were trees and Cordelia was perfectly normal, but he didn’t dwell on it too long. ‘And then there is Wirt. He asked for the rest of the story, and I did have that other dream of him, so... perhaps he knows something as well?’

“Are you okay?” Dennis had snuck up on him while he thought.

Clifford startled a little and turned to face his friend. “Uhm. Yes. Yes, I’m fine.”

“Uh oh.”

“What?”

“You know, when people say they're fine, they often don’t mean it. So, give me the truth.” he demanded.

Clifford sighed and turned back around.

“I think I had the same fever dream Cordelia had.”

Dennis was silent for a long while. “…How?” he asked pointedly.

“That’s what I would love to know.”

“No, dude. I mean, yes, that too, but….how do you know?”

“I think-” it might be time to tell. He cringed. “I’m remembering things.” He murmured. “I didn’t want to pressure Will, so, I didn’t tell anyone.”

“Hm. Okay. I’m a little hurt that you don’t trust me to keep a secret, but fine.”

Clifford hunched his shoulders in shame. “You know, people often say ‘fine’ without meaning it.” he tried to lighten the mood.

“Hardy-har. Scoot your ugly-ass butt over.” Dennis walked over and sat next to him after he had rearranged his legs a couple posts to the side.

“Ugly-ass butt?”

“I’m frustrated and tired and I that’s the least hurtful thing I could think of right now.” Dennis waved it off.

“Oh. Sorry.”

Dennis groaned. “Nah, man, I get it already, you and your big bro protectiveness. Just tell him. He might even be doing the same? And then you’d both be miserable for no reason.”

“We actually had a talk earlier, and I think he has other problems than his memory.” Clifford covered his mouth. He hadn’t meant to say that, he knew what a private person Will could be, despite his outgoing personality.

“I won’t ask, but there. He trusts you with something, so trust him in return. You’re fucking twins, you’ll be stuck one way or another for the rest of your life’s, so make sure you don’t start hating each other.”

Clifford nodded. The two boys sat there for a couple of minutes, before Will’s door opened down the hall.

“We’re done!” Cordelia called. “Come back and help us traumatize Wirt with make-up!”

The door closed.

The two shared a look and stood up.

“Tomorrow.” Clifford said. “We’re having fun tonight. I’m telling him tomorrow.”

Then they went back into Will’s room and kept Cordelia and Will from trying to convince Wirt to wear eyeliner.

 

\------------------------------

 

It was 1 AM.

There were snack wrappers and empty soda bottles strewn across the recently cleaned floor of Will’s room, now all pushed into one corner for the night. In between weird party games and long talks, Clifford had excused himself to go set up the mattress for Wirt in his room. By now, they had all gotten ready for bed by now and Clifford had said his goodnight to Will, Cordelia and Dennis. Wirt did the same, then they moved downstairs to his own bedroom.

“Looks …nice.” Wirt said when they entered.

“Thanks.”

“Very… foresty.” He eyed the walls covered in leaves.

“I know, Will tells me it’s weird. Don’t start.” He chuckled and sat on his bed, leaning against the footboard. “Just feel more like home this way.”

“No, I wasn’t-” Wirt turned around and stopped what was probably intended to be an apology judging from his demeanour. Now he looked like he had seen a ghost.

He gave him a concerned look. “Are you okay? I was just kidding, you know.” He yawned. “So, don’t worry about it.”

He leaned over to flick off the big light in his room and turn on his nightlight, then cast another glance at his temporary roommate. “You’re fine with a little light? I can’t sleep well in the dark.” He furrowed his brows a bit.

“Fine.” Wirt croaked out, then he quickly laid down on his mattress and buried himself in the sheets.

‘Huh. Weird.’ Clifford shrugged, too tired to think about it too much, then he laid down as well and closed his eyes. Having someone else in his room was a little strange, but he was used to Will and their frequent sleepovers, so sleep found him soon.


	25. EVERYBODY.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I was unsure which to use for the floors a while, so I tried to avoid using it. Now I decided to call it the US way, since the twins live there and all. I know I (mostly try to) write in British English, but… Sometimes I can’t, because…. They’re American. Perhaps I should have written in AE from the start, but oh well. You’ll have to live with my weird AE/BE mix now :P
> 
> Also, Christmas is thiiiis close now :D  
> How do you celebrate? I'm honestly curious, I have no idea how Christmas is done elsewhere xD
> 
> Enjoy this chapter, it's addressing something that I thought I should mention sooner rather than later. (Originally I was going to save it for waaaayyyy later, but this is better. I think...)
> 
> Anyway, Have Fun!  
> Holly~♥

Will awoke to a face full of hair. He sputtered and shoved Cordy, who had been sitting on his chest and hanging her long copper hair into his face, off of him and also off the bed.

“Ew, Cordy! Gross!” he picked a single long hair off his nose and sneezed. “Why?” he asked her.

“I woke up at 11 AM and I’m hungry. Dennis is getting ready and I don’t know about Clifford and Wirt, but you’re the last of us to get up, and I’m hungry. So I punished you.”

He darted a look at the clock, which told him it was 11:30 now.

“Why do you punish me for you being hungry?”

“I punished you for keeping me from food by sleeping in.” she corrected, before blowing a raspberry at him and leaving the room.

Will grumbled to himself as he got dressed and then followed her downstairs. In the kitchen, Clifford was already in his seat, drinking his usual morning cup of tea, but otherwise, the kitchen was empty.

“Where is everyone?” He asked his twin. Their parents had probably gone out by now, they figured out that the teens would sleep in and ate around 7 AM or something before heading out to give them some space. It was really sweet of them.

“Wirt is still sleeping, I think the light kept him up. Dennis is showering I think and Cordelia is outside in the garden.”

“She said she was hungry, so shouldn’t we wake Wirt?” he asked.

“Let’s set the table first.”

The twins made quick work of putting dishes and food on the table, just about finished when Cordy came back in.

“I’m going to go wake Wirt.” Will said.

On the way upstairs, he spotted Dennis going upstairs to his room. “I’m awake!” he called to stop him. “We’re having breakfast now, I’m just gonna wake Wirt first.”

He knocked on his twin’s door first, in case he was already awake and changing or something. When he got no answer, he peeked in to see the brunette still sleeping soundly, facing the door. Deciding to be more merciful than Cordy had been to him and simply nudged him a couple times.

“Oi. Wake up, Wirt.”

The other teen grumbled and whined before opening his eyes slowly.

“Hey. Have a good sleep?” Will asked.

“Not really….” Wirt grumbled and rubbed his eyes.

“Yeaaah, Clifford said something like that.” He shrugged. “Come on, we got breakfast downstairs, and we’re going to eat aaaaaalllll of it. So hurry up, kay?”

“Wait a moment. Please.” Wirt stopped him when he was about to leave again.

“Yes?”

“Where did- Where did your brother get that?” Wirt pointed at contraption his twin had set up as a nightlight.

He pulled his shoulders up. “Basement? I guess. It’s where I got a lot of my stuff. Our nightstands, my drawing stuff, these.” He flicked one of the plastic leaves of the fairy light. “It’s our old stuff. So, we went through it and looked what we wanted to keep using and what could stay down there.”

“Ah.” Somehow, Wirt looked a little whiter than usual.

“Come on. Get ready and come down to eat something, you’ll feel better afterwards.” Will left the room and went downstairs.

“He’s awake.” He announced before plopping down in his seat. Cordy was standing in front of the toaster, waiting for her breakfast with a look that suggested she might try to catch the toast the moment it came up. Dennis was sitting at the table as well, drinking some water. “By the way, Clifford, did we ever confirm that lantern was actually yours?”

Clifford looked as though he’d just been caught with the hand in the cookie jar. “No? If it turns out to be yours, would you want it back?”

Will shook his head. “Nah, just curious. What would I do with that old thing?”

Clifford relaxed and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

By the time Wirt stumbled into the kitchen, Cordy was already done with her first toast, Dennis was eating his, and Clifford had finished his tea and was waiting for his toast to be done toasting.

“Wow, you look tired.” Cordelia observed before a strange sort of grin spread across her face. “Clifford must have been keeping you awake for a looong time.”

Suddenly, Dennis was choking on his toast. He coughed a bit, but managed to make it go down the correct pipe. “What the fuck Deli!” he cried while somehow laughing? “I didn’t need that picture so early in the morning.”

Will tilted his head. “Huh?” He didn't get it, there was probably a joke there?

“Don’t mind her.” Dennis buried his face in his hands and Wirt made some extended whining noise.

“I have no idea what you all took this morning.” Will shook his head and turned to make himself some breakfast as well, since Clifford’s toast was done now. It was a great bonus that his friends were sometimes so weird, he didn’t feel as crazy as he probably was.

Cordy tilted her head. “Woaaaah, wait. You really don’t get it?”

Clifford hummed in affirmation. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Will?” Will shook his head.

“Nope.” He popped the ‘p’ and took his breakfast from the toaster, so Wirt could make his. "I think it was supposed to be a joke, but I don't get what it was."

“Oh my god, you’re so precious!” She squealed. “So innocent! Clifford, didn’t you say your tutors covered – ahem – _reproduction_ , as you put it?”

Clifford pulled up his shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “So?”

“Why are we talking about this?” Wirt asked, clearly uncomfortable.

Clifford made another humming noise, which Will chalked up to the fact that he had his mouth full of food.

Cordy grinned. “Okay, no- …boys. You two,” she shot a look at both Will and Clifford. “What exactly did you cover?”

Will grimaced. “Do we have to talk about this during breakfast? It’s gross.” He cringed when he remembered Mr Stonefield tell them in his droning monotone voice which parts go where and- ew. Just ew.

She made a gasping noise. “ _That_ is a _travesty_! How can you say that? What did that teacher do wrong?”

Clifford made a face. “I don’t get what you’re saying. It _is_ gross.”

Dennis raised a brow before joining in as well. “I’ll have to side with Deli now, who the fuck was your tutor, and what did he tell you to make you think sex is that gross?" he furrowed his brow and seemed to be thinking for a moment before reluctantly nodding. "Though, I’m not denying that it’s slightly gross, when you actually think about it.”

“Urgh.” Will groaned. “Mr Stonefield just told us what goes where, what diseases it can transfer and that we’re not supposed to have anything to do with it anyway before we’re of age.” He nudged the remnants of his toast with his pinkie, appetite lost.

“Oh my fucking god, of course, you had to get motherfucking Stonefield.” Dennis groaned. “He’s the absolute worst. Makes everything bland and boring and awful, no wonder you’re so-” he waved a hand at them in a vague gesture. “… _So!_ ....fucking STD’s and age of consent.” He grumbled.

Will’s brows knitted together in confusion. It seemed like they might have been misinformed. Or at the very least missed out on some important, non-gross stuff.

Cordy suddenly gasped. “OMG, please tell me you at least looked it up yourself?”

Clifford shook his head. “Why would we?”

“Yeah.” Will added. “We got the main gist of it – male parts go in female part and make baby – so why spend more time thinking about it?” he paused before adding: “And I know from our parents that somehow it’s also supposed to work with two girls and two men, which admittedly, I don’t get how that works, but okay.”

“How.” Dennis said and it was more a statement than a question. “You two are impossible. You haven’t even looked up porn yet.”

“Of course not!” Will grimaced. He had stumbled across that word too often online to not look up its meaning and was glad to not have stumbled across anything except the actual definition. He really didn’t need to see that.

“A fucking _travesty_.” Cordy repeated.

Wirt had been very silent and looked about ready to disappear into his chair.

“We are not allowed to anyways.” Clifford explained. “We are still 17 years old.”

For some reason, this made Wirt snort and start to giggle, which set off their other two friends as well.

“Guys!” Dennis choked out between laughs. “I’m pretty sure there isn’t a single _sixteen_ -year-old that hasn’t looked at porn _in any form_ at least once in their life.”

“Haven’t you heard of Fifty Shades?” Cordy asked and continued without waiting for their answer. “That is a _book_! There are no age-restrictions on _books_! I know for a fact every girl in our grade read it.”

“Everybody knows some porn. _Everybody_.” Dennis stressed. “Seriously, no wonder you don’t get half the jokes Deli makes, they’re mostly innuendo.”

“What now?” Will tilted his head. Sadly, this sent them all back into their laugh flash.

“I feel like we may have missed something vital.” Clifford hummed and turned back to his breakfast.

“You sure did!” Cordy giggled.

It took them some time to calm down enough to finish their breakfast in – mostly – peace. Every once in a while one of them would let out another stray chuckle, but by the time it was 1 PM they had finished up and were cleaning up the kitchen.

“So.” Cordy stared down the twins.

“What?” Will raised a brow.

“We know how bland Stonefield makes _everything_ seem, so here’s the deal: Sex isn’t bad or something to endure - if he made it seem that way-, it’s _supposed_ to be fun, so you should seriously re-educate yourselves at some point. I’m not telling you how, just do it.”

“But we’re-” Clifford started before Dennis interrupted him

“Not of age, blah blah blah.”  He made a couple of ‘blah’ motions with his hand. “As Cordelia said, books don’t have age restrictions, and since Fifty Shades came out there are tons of romance novels out there that have some spice in them. Also, the internet doesn’t care, just make sure not to get any viruses-”

Will rolled his eyes, recalling Sam’s lecture on that. “Ugh, yeah, dad told us what ‘evil forces’ want to destroy our computers.”

“Exactly. But yeah, I’m pretty sure everybody who is been in puberty for more than a year has looked up porn at some point or another. Everybody, Clifford.” He pointed at the older twin when he opened his mouth to protest. “So, now why don’t we go outside for a bit? I need to get some fresh air.”

 

\-----------------------------------------

 

They had all gotten ready quickly and went for a walk around the neighbourhood while they decided what to do with the rest of the day. Or at least, until 3 PM. Now that summer break was over, Cordy had to go to her improv theatre group.

“We usually don’t meet during the holidays, since so many of us go on vacation.” She explained. “But apart from that, we meet every Sunday. It’s really fun, we mostly mess around a lot, but every couple of months, we take a train to someplace where we won’t get recognized easily and do a flash mob. The last one we had before summer break was really great.”

“And your group leader allows you to just slack off for the holidays?” Wirt asked.

“Oh! No, that isn’t- we are just friends who came up with the group, there isn’t really a leader. Sometimes more people come or someone brings a few friends, and we kinda go from there. There are only like, seven or eight main members who are always there for the meetings. Everyone else joins in for the events they are interested in. Sorta. There are…” she trailed off and looked frantically through her phone. “64 members in the WhatsApp group, however. So yeah, big group, small gatherings. Except for the big events.”

“What do you do?” Will asked her.

“Well, on Sundays we mostly goof off and do some practice runs, where people write down prompts we’re supposed to act out. The events vary, sometimes we do flash mobs, we do street theatre, and once we even got asked by someone who was friends with the mom of one of our member if we could perform something for the birthday party of her daughter. We got paid in ice cream, that was awesome.”

Clifford checked his phone for the time. “So that means we got about one hour.” He tried to bring them back to the subject at hand.

As they wandered around the neighbourhood, they tried to find something interesting to do, but after half an hour of discussions on where to go, the teenagers ended up at a park and claimed a spot under a willow near a small lake to relax.

Clifford leaned against the trunk of the tree, and Wil laid down on his back next to him, placing his head on his twin’s legs. Cordy was also using his stomach as a pillow and Dennis had sat down next to Clifford. Wirt didn’t quite know what to do with himself first, so Cordy had pulled him down to sit next to her, so now her pulled up legs served as a sort of backrest for him.

“You know, this is way better than… whatever else we wanted to do.” She hummed.

“Heh.” Will gave a short laugh. “Yeah. I think I wanted to go shopping, but now….meh.”

It was actually a rather nice day out, there were a few stray clouds in the sky, but it was warm enough that the occasional shadow passing overhead or the little breeze coming in once in a while were actually welcome.

“We should go swimming next week.” Dennis remarked.

“Oh right!” Cordy exclaimed. “Did you go yet?”

Will shook his head, then he remembered that she wouldn’t be able to see that. “No, we haven’t. We do have swimming trunks already, though.”

They fell back into a silence of lazy contentment and Will closed his eyes to let his mind drift. He suddenly realized what was missing. He reached for the string around his neck. The necklace must have slipped back under the shirt overnight.

**‘Well, it’s nice to know you miss me enough to make sure we can at least communicate.’**

‘So you still know what’s going on? You just can’t talk when the stone is on my skin?’

**‘…Something like that.’**

‘You’re lying.’ Will sang in his head. He waited, but no answer came. He made an unimpressed scoffing noise. ‘Oh no how scary, I’m being ignored!’

“What?” Wirt asked.

“Huh?” He opened his eyes and looked up at him. “What?”

“That’s what I-” Wirt shook his head. “You made a face and… nevermind.”

Will stared at the brunette for a long moment. He didn’t quite get it, to be honest. How Wirt could be friends with Dipper. Or acquaintances or whatever. They didn’t seem to have that much in common except for their hair colour.

**‘Hah.’**

‘Hello again. What? Am I wrong?’ His brows knit together as he frowned. His other half loved pointing out when he was after all, and that sounded like one of his _I-know-something-you-don’t_ laughs.

**‘I always do, but that doesn’t matter. Why don’t you just ask him?’**

He hummed. “Hey Wirt?”

“Y-yes?” he snapped his head back from where he’d been watching some ducks on the lake.

“How did you meet Dipper?”

“Oh. Uhmmm…” He paused and darted a look at Clifford. Will looked up and poked his frowning brother in the side, which made twitch and break out of his glare.

“Your face will get stuck like that.” He told his older twin. Clifford grumbled and leaned back.

“W-well.” Wirt started. “We... my family – that is, me, my mom, her husband and my stepbrother – we moved here a year ago. I told you that?”

Will nodded and felt Cordy do the same on his stomach.

“Yes. Right. Jonathan – Greg’s dad – he got a raise and was transferred here, so… we all moved.” He grimaced. “My gi-… ex-girlfriend broke up with me because of that.”

“Ouch.” Cordy raised her head a little. “That… really sucks. Sorry.”

“She said she wouldn’t be able to do a long-distance relationship.” Wirt was ripping out some grass.

“What a load of shit.” Dennis remarked. “Sorry if that offends you, but man, she didn’t even _try_? That’s awful.”

“Well. Yeah. A-and then, of course, I wasn’t really ...doing great for a while, and earlier this year, I met Dipper and he… sort of gave me some pointers? On how to get over someone? It was really helpful, and e-even though I still miss her, it -… it doesn’t hurt as badly as it did half a year ago.” He mumbled.

“That sounds way nicer than the Dipper I know.” Will resisted the urge to scoff.

“As I said, I don’t really know what’s going on with him. I mean, I know he had his problems after he got away from Anna but-”

“Anna?” Clifford’s head shot up. “From our Writing class?”

“Yeah, that was unfortunate. Maybe it would have been better if they hadn't been in the same group. I think.... I’m not sure, she might be trying to get on my good side for _some_ reason, but I don’t get what her deal is.”

“I don’t get what Dipper’s deal is.” Clifford scoffed. “She was really nice, if a bit too rebellious. I didn’t quite get what her deal with the running away was and all.”

“They-…” Wirt hesitated. “They were a couple back then. Earlier this year, I mean, and… Anna wasn’t…. she’s kinda pushy? But in a really bad way, Dipper hadn’t even realized it when we met, but… I think he kind of broke up with her because of me?” He shook his head and scrambled to correct himself. “I mean, not _for_ me or anything, but I think I made him realise that she wasn’t really good to him? I don’t know much about the details, honestly, but whenever he wanted to meet up with me to talk, she would accuse him of all sorts of things, from ignoring her to having another girlfriend. And when he told her he was just meeting another boy, she turned that around to him being homosexual and cheating on her with me. And told him that she would break up with him if he went out without her again. Stuff like that.”

Cordy had sat up in the middle of his explanation.

“Holy fuck what a bitch! I knew something was off about her, Maby had been right!”

“Huh?” Will made an inquisitive noise. “What do you mean?”

“Maby told me that Dipper was spending less and less time at home, and he’d always come back really tired and acting weird. She said she was really worried and nearly called her great-uncle – don’t ask me why that, I don’t know. And she had sorta ….seen one of their interactions once? Between Anna and Dipper? It didn’t look good apparently, but she didn’t hear what they said, so she wasn’t sure.”

“So, he had a bad breakup.” Dennis shrugged. “That’s still no excuse to be an asshole.”

“I don’t think it was the first one either.” Wirt added. “I told you, he gave me tips for getting over someone, and…. He had a lot of those, and really helpful ones too, I think he went through a fair share of breakups. B-but!” he quickly amended when he saw Dennis’ stern face. “You’re right, of course that isn’t an excuse, but still….”

“But still _nothing_.” Clifford insisted. “If he has a problem with Anna, he can be a jerk to her, if he has a problem with punks, take it up with _them_.” he referenced their conversation earlier this week. “But Will has never even met him before, he has no right to act like that.”

Will hummed softly. He wasn’t so sure anymore. He wasn’t really sure of anything. If it was his way of dressing that made Dipper think he meant trouble, he could at least meet him halfway, if only to apologize, by dressing a little different on Monday?

 **‘Might work, might not.’** His other half piped in half-heartedly.

‘I don’t really want to spend the rest of the year avoiding Dipper, especially not if Mabel still wants to be friends.’ He hoped she did. She seemed really mad on Friday. His stomach rolled. She probably already told Dipper.

‘If she did, it might be best to not dress flashy anyways. I don’t want to draw any more attention. She may just tell Dipper, but who knows if he’ll keep it to himself…’

“I want to try and talk to him.” He announced out loud.

“Why?” Clifford asked. “He hates you, so you avoid him. Easy.”

“I do still want to be friends with Mabel, though.” He defended himself. “That is, if she still wants to be friends.”

“What happened?” His twin said in that familiar tone that told Will he would be ready to repel any sort of attack on his younger brother.

“I had a fight with him on Friday, and she saw. She looked really mad.”

“Maby’s forgiving, she won’t be mad for long.” Cordy reassured him. “She’s too sweet to be mad for long. You know what?”

“What?”

“I’ll ask her later. I’m sure she’s not mad at you.”

“She didn’t text me at all since then. She could just not answer yours too.”

“Oh no, you misunderstood. We’re both in the improv group. I’ll ask her in person.”

“Really?”

“Sure, bestie.” She offered him a fist and the two managed a fist bump despite the weird angle.

“Thanks.”

After another couple of minutes in silence, Cordy suddenly hummed and mumbled: “I think I might fall asleep, you guys.”

“You want a lullaby?” Will teased.

“Hahah.” She slapped his stomach weakly with the back of her hand.

“Not from me obviously. Clifford can sing it.”

“No.” came the stubborn reply.

“Awww please?”

“No.”

“But it’s so niiiiiiiceeee.” He whined.

“No, Willard. I’m not singing.”

Will stuck out his tongue at his twin. “Meanie.”

“Y-you…..sing?” Wirt sounded as if he’d rather not ask at all.

“He does, but only when he thinks no one can hear.” Will nodded. “Sometimes, he just comes to my room and sings me a lullaby. It’s really cute.”

“I do not.” Clifford frowned down at him.

“No need to deny it, bro. I was wide awake.”

“No, I’m serious Will, I don’t.”

Will darted a look up at his twins face. He did look serious.

“You do.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I don’t. The last time I was upstairs in your room at night – outside of a sleepover -  was over a month ago.”

“Clifford, I’m sure you were in my room this-” he counted the days off his fingers. “-Tuesday. That was the last time.”

“Perhaps he sleepwalks?” Cordy suggested.

“And what, sleep sings as well?” Dennis made ‘tsst’ noise. “I don’t think that’s a thing.”

Suddenly, Will remembered something. “Wait a moment. That one time, during summer break, when mom was freaking out about the door to the garden!”

“What?” Clifford frowned.

“She had been sure she closed and locked it, but in the morning, it was unlocked. Dad said she must have remembered it wrong, but she was so sure. And then she was on edge the whole day, and looking if anything was missing because she thought there had been a break in.”

“I remember that, yes.” His brother nodded.

“So what if it was just you? You totally sleepwalked out into the garden!”

“Set up a camera and find out.” Cordy said. “Who knows where you go when your subconscious is leading you.” She made some supposedly spooky ghost sounds.

“O-or, you _could_ just lock your door from the outside. Problem solved.” Wirt suggested in a nervous manner.

“Yeah sure, lock the poor guy in his room.” Dennis chuckled. “At least, now Clifford has something interesting happening in his life. I’m sure Will was growing lonely over there.”

“You’re such a buttface, Bobby.” Cordy chuckled.

A split second after, Wirt lost his balance when she rolled away and started running away from her irate friend who sprang up at the use of his second name and began chasing her across the lawn. While Dennis yelled obscenities at Cordy, she laughed and evaded his attempts to tackle her.

 

\--------------------------

 

At some point, Dennis grew too tired to continue his assault on the girl and the group began to head back home. By the time 2:30 PM came around, they were just arriving home and met Annie and Sam, who were unpacking some groceries from the car.

Clifford quickly offered to help and roped the rest of them into it as well. Will was putting away some flour into the pantry when Dennis came into the kitchen and made an inquisitive noise.

“Why the fuck do you need this much ice tea?” he held up two six packs of green plastic bottles. Will gasped.

“Ohmygodyoudidn’t!”

Annie looked up from where she was sorting away stuff into the fridge. “Well, we had to kill some more time, and the Ikea isn’t _that_ far away…”

Will snickered and took the six packs from Dennis, placing them on the table before poking a hole in the plastic holding the bottles together and taking out one of them.

“What’s that?” Cordy asked and pulled one of the packs over to her seat at the table. “Pine Tree Ice Tea? Seriously?”

“Don’t knock it, it’s delicious!” Will defended and took a sip. Still amazing, but probably better if it was cold. “I’m gonna put the six packs in the basement. Can I leave this one in the fridge with you, mom?”

“That’s alright, dear. Go ahead.”

“Can I try?” Cordy made a grasping motion towards Will, so he handed her his bottle. She took a sip and grimaced, but then she made a thoughtful face and hummed before taking a second sip and grimacing again. “I don’t know.” She said slowly in a drawn-out judgmental way and placed the bottle in the fridge.

Will shrugged. “Suit yourself.” Then he picked up the six packs and headed downstairs.

When he was in the basement he decided to address the incessant snickering in the back of his mind.

‘What’s your deal all of a sudden.’

**‘Aaah, I don’t know if you’re the worst or best person to be stuck with.’**

‘Thanks. It’s mutual. You can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.’ He paused and picked a spot to leave the ice tea. ‘Because of this stuff, or why?’

 **‘All sorts of little things, really.’** He made a ‘pfshht’ noise. **‘But don’t hurt yourself thinking too hard about it, it’s nothing.’**

He hummed. ‘If you say so.’

By the time he got back upstairs, the others had finished up and the group went upstairs so the twin’s friends could get their things in order and get ready to leave. Will lounged on his bed and watched Dennis and Cordy pack their things together. He would put away the mattresses and blankets later.

“So.” Dennis said. “Will, anything new on the DID front? I wanted to ask, but not…” in front of Wirt, he didn’t say. “He doesn’t know yet, right?”

“No. But I’m thinking of telling him.” He sighed. “He’s been oddly silent. The…. Other half.” Will waved his right hand for emphasis on who he was talking about. A vague feeling of annoyance was his answer. By now, he could tell it came from said other half. “I mean, we had actual out loud conversations a week ago, but it’s been so quiet this week. First, I haven’t slipped into the other personality at all, and now he’s just sorta… thinking at me?” He sighed. “And I don’t know if I’m actually getting better or if I am so superstitious that wearing a fucking _stone_ of all things is enough to make my brain stop being a pain.”

“…. Sounds complicated.” Cordy commented and stuffed her PJ’s into her bag. “But I think that might be a sign that you’re getting better? If there even is a ‘getting better’. I’ve heard different things about whether it’s curable or not.”

Will chuckled. “I think my therapist doesn’t really know either. There’s a lot of ‘let’s try this’ and ‘perhaps this will work’ or my all-time favourite: ‘that’s not how it’s supposed to work’. I know my DID is somewhat abnormal in some ways, so I’m pretty sure she has no idea what she’s doing.”

"Sounds like my chemistry teacher trying an experiment." Dennis commented, which made the other two chuckle.

Before they left his room, Will pulled the plug on the mattresses, so they could deflate while they said their goodbyes.

Even though technically, Dennis and Wirt could have stayed, Wirt had apparently promised Greg to spend some time with him, and Dennis was ‘socially exhausted’ as he put it.

“I simply can’t handle you all for such an extended time.” He laughed. “Nah, it’s people in general. My mom keeps saying I’m socially withering away, or something. But really, I just like to have some time to myself.”

When they all left, Dennis placed a hand on Clifford's shoulder. “Remember? You promised.” Clifford nodded and shooed him away. And before he knew it, their friends were gone again. And he had to clean his room. He heaved a sigh of resignation.

“I’ll go clean my room., then.” He announced and started his way upstairs.

“Can I come upstairs later?” Clifford asked.

“Sure, I’ll text you when I’m done.”

Rolling up the air mattresses was kind of fun. He had to do it in a way that pressed out all the air, so they’d fit back into their boxes – which was the only not-so-fun part of the debacle – and getting them into their place in the basement wasn’t that hard either. Then he just had the big pile of random snack wrappings in one corner.

‘I really need a bin up here.’ He observed as he scooped them up, trying to get all of them downstairs in one go. Clifford didn’t have one either, but he rarely took snacks into his room, mostly just tea or stuff that didn’t make any garbage.

‘Note to self: get bin.’

**‘Not taken.’**

‘Not to you, to me.’

**‘You sure?’**

He resisted the wave of confusion the other tried to send his way. ‘Nice try, that was not mine an I know it!’ He stuffed the garbage into the kitchen bin.

 **‘Yeah, that used to work better.’** He grumbled.

“Tsst.” He shook his head and put his stone back under his shirt.

**‘Oh come on, seri-’**

….Blessed silence.

Serves him right.

He grinned and returned upstairs, getting the vacuum from its place in a cabinet in the bathroom on the second floor. Carrying that thing up to the attic was a pain too and he always dreaded cleaning his room, because it meant having to haul that thing up there.

‘Add a vacuum to the shopping list.’ He thought as he reached the top of the stairs.

After that last thing was done, he put away the vacuum and decided to go and tell Clifford he was done in person.

“Hey.” He peeked into his twin’s room. Clifford was lying on the bed, staring down at his closed journal. Or diary, whatever he called it.

“Hello.” Came the strangely subdued answer. Will frowned and moved toward his twin to sit on the bed. Clifford was usually the calmer one, but now there was a sad air about him.

“What?”

“I need to tell you something.”

When he didn’t continue, Will made a gesture to let him know he was waiting.

“I….” Clifford handed Will the notebook in his hands. “I’ve been remembering things. From before.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #subjectchangewhiplash


	26. Getting closer to Something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! 
> 
> Hope you have fun the next couple of days, 2019 is upon us!! :D  
> Let's hope for a great year! ♥
> 
> If you didn't notice yet, there is a christmas special waiting for you in 'In Between'. If you did, I hope you liked it :D
> 
> Holly~♥

Clifford was waiting for his twin to say something, hiding his nerves by biting his lip.

“That’s great.”

He raised his head. Will was smiling, but he still wore the expression he’d expected.

Sadness. Resignation. The knowledge that his twin had recalled something and he hadn’t was carved into his expression, and Clifford felt bad for mentioning it at all.

“I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“No.” Will shook his head. “No, it’s…. it’s just. I’m happy for you, I really am, but…”

“I know, I know, but it’s-” Clifford searched for the right words. “I don’t even know what they are. I need some help and… I didn’t want you to know, but I can’t handle these alone and Dennis said I should tell you anyways.”

“You told Dennis before you told me?” Clifford could hear the edge of hurt in his brother’s voice and cringed.

“I didn’t want to tell anyone, he just caught me in a bad moment.”

They sat in silence for a while and Clifford watched Will toy with the front page of his diary, as though contemplating whether he should open it or not.

“Oh.” Will made a soft noise. “That’s what you spacing out all the time is about, right?”

He nodded.

“…what do you remember?” Will asked quietly

Clifford took a deep breath before letting it out in a sigh. “Very different things. There are full memories - with the visuals and sounds and emotions – or some where I just have one or two of these and…. There is a lot missing. I have one of the two of us playing hide and seek in the garden, when we were-… I don’t know, four? And you started climbing up the fence and I was really scared for you, but I couldn’t hear anything at all in that one. And…” he made a pause to take another breath. “I don’t just remember stuff like that, there is this… really creepy thing, where I remembered not being able to move? And you and Cordelia were there as well, but she wouldn’t hear me when I called for her and just walked off and-…. Then she told that story yesterday and it was- it was exactly the same.”

“Huh?” Will tilted his head

“I’m not lying! I got that memory way before she told that story, about the dream she had after the accident? And she talked about twin trees, too and I keep having these dreams where I am a tree and- ugh!” he pressed the balls of his hands against his eyes, feeling the first tears come through. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d cried about something. Perhaps in the first weeks at the hospital, but...

“I believe you.” Will said with a wry smile. “You believed my nonsense about the stones. Which I think is actually working by the way.”

“That’s good.” He laughed weakly. “I’m sorry.”

“No, really, I’m- I’m okay. It was a little… eh?” he made a ‘so-so’ gesture. “But I shouldn’t blame you for that. It’s great that you can remember some things at least. Even though it’s confusing.”

“It still upsets you.”

“Well, yeah.” The corners of his mouth turned up a bit, even though it was clearly forced. “But seriously? If the stuff you remember upsets you that much, I’m happy to not remember anything. After all,” he knocked himself on the head.  “my mind must have literally broken in half from whatever happened. I’m more than glad not having to remember that.”

Clifford tried to stop himself from laughing, but couldn’t really hold it in with the way Will was suddenly grinning. His twin’s grin became a little more real then. Seemed like he was trying to cheer him up, even though he should have been more upset about this than Clifford.

“You’re the best.” Clifford smiled and threw his arms around his brother. Will let out a surprised laugh. After all, usually it was Will who was the one initiating any hugs.

They lounged on Clifford’s bed for a while, before Will brought up the diary that he still held in his hands. “You wrote them down in here?”

Clifford nodded. “You can read it if you want.”

Will eyed the journal, with a look that clearly said he was tempted.  Then he shook his head. “It wouldn’t feel fair.” He handed it back to him.

“Then I could read yours.” Clifford suggested as he took it back.

“Aha!” Will smirked. “This is just an elaborate plot to read my journal!”

“I wish it was.” Clifford groaned.

They settled down again.

“…Fine.” Will said after a couple of minutes.

“What?”

“I said fine, you can read it. If you’re brave enough to offer me your deepest, darkest secrets like this, I’m sure I can do the same.”

“You don’t have to if it’s making you uncomfortable, really, Will. I was just joking.”

“Too late, I’ve made up my mind. Wait here.” Will jumped off the bed and rushed out of the room.

When he was gone, Clifford took a long and deep breath before letting it out in a heavy sigh and flopped down on the bed.

‘That went way too easy.’ He fretted.

It wasn’t as though Will wasn’t upset - he very clearly was – him fleeing the room like he did was the best example for that. After all, he had just said to ‘wait here’. The implication was that he was going upstairs to get his journal, but Clifford knew he would take his time with that. Will was simply the kind of person to retreat to a safe place when he was hurt by something.

He just hoped he would come down today.

Clifford stood from his bed and went to his desk, where he took the little pitcher of water he borrowed from the kitchen – Annie rarely used it for anything and had yet to notice it missing – and stared to water the little plants on his desks shelves. The big fern in the corner would have to wait until he could leave his room to refill the pitcher. He might know that Will was going to take his time, but the younger was getting better at resolving (or was it repressing?) his problems quicker when he got like this.

While he waited, he began to look through his own journal once more and found a few topics he would like to talk about with Will.

The dream-like memories where he was so sure that his twin was nearby. Especially the one Cordelia had seemingly shared at least with him, if not with Will as well.

Will’s perspective on That Week. Clifford shuddered when he read through his entry on that. He’d been a mess back then. Frankly, he was surprised he’d gotten better at spending time away from his twin so quickly. It had only been a little more than a month ago, after all.

Clifford was also curious about the stone thing, just a little bit. Sure, he didn’t think it had as much of an effect as Will liked to think it did, but he wouldn’t deny that there probably were some psychological aspects to the whole ‘belief’ thing. If only that being convinced something has an effect on your mind or body is what actually makes anything happen at all. And if it gave Will a way to deal with his DID, then he would certainly not try and stop him from using those stones.

In the corridor, he heard the familiar footfalls of his twin. He looked at the clock, surprised. He’d only taken about half an hour. Clifford had been sure the younger twin wouldn’t come out until dinner.

“I’m back. Sorry it took so long.”

“Don’t worry about it, I needed some time to think anyway.”

Acknowledge it, but don’t make a big deal out of it. Will smiled in appreciation. “Here.” He seemingly casually tossed his journal at Clifford, who just barely caught it before it hit him in the face. And if he hadn’t known his twin as well as he did, he might not have caught the tension in the casualty, or the nervous hand that reached up to toy with his long bangs of hair.

“Thank you.” He handed back his own diary and gestured for Will to sit down as well. “Why don’t we just read for a while?”

“Yeah. Oaky.” Will plopped down on the bed and leaned his back against the wall, close to the footrest. Clifford stretched out his legs and opened up the journal.

The first few entries were startlingly similar to his, even though every now and then, there would be a short bit where Will would freak out about his missing eye. The writing looked different somehow and after reading for a while, Clifford figured out – mostly due to a smear of ink – that some parts were written with his left and some with his right.

Which meant that his twin had had two personalities since the very first day they awoke.

He returned to the first page to confirm this. Indeed, the writing here looked more than just different in the sense of being written with another hand. For the first few lines, Will had a completely different handwriting before it changed to fit more closely to the other one.

Clifford felt goose bumps spread over his back. “Um, Will?”

“Yup?”

“You- Did you know your handwriting was different at the beginning?” he showed the part he meant to Will.

“Huh. I didn’t even read that again after I wrote it. It didn’t seem-” he paused before groaning. “Oh gooooddd!”

“What?” Clifford was getting a little worried.

“I just realized something – of fucking course, urgh!” he shook his head. “You know the thing I said about the stone? That it lets me differentiate between me and my other half?”

“Yes?” Clifford said questioningly.

“Yeah, well, it turns out – he implied something like that – that he used to think things, and I would think those were my thoughts, so I would not do certain things? Like, I kept thinking back then: ‘This journal stuff is stupid, I’m just gonna write whatever’ and ‘who would even want to read about something they clearly remember, anyways?’. And stuff like that. So I wouldn’t-…. But oh my fucking god, you’re right, he was there!” he gestured at the line of handwriting. “I feel like such an idiot.”

“But why would your second personality trick you?” Clifford mused. “Isn’t it – he – there to protect you?”

Will stared at him intently. “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I’m dangerous.”

“Not _you_ , just-”

“Well, _he_ is also _me_! A-and I know. Okay? I _know_ that there is something wrong, but he doesn’t tell me anything, which doesn’t make things _better_.” He cast a harsh look down at his right hand, which made Clifford think that was directed more at his other half than at him.

“I’m sorry.”

“- and it’s confusing as all hell, because you’re not the only one who thinks so, and I’ve suspected it as well.” He touched a hand to his chest, where the stone made a small lump under his shirt. “The lady from that shop! She didn’t say anything, but everything I looked up about this said something about how it’s a charm against evil forces. She did say something about it being a talisman and I thought she was just giving me a general good-luck thing, but what if she knew-”

“Willard!” Clifford clapped his hands on his twin’s shoulders to calm him down. “She is just an old lady.”

“Hnnnnnggh.” Will reached up to press the balls of his hands over his eyes. “I knooooooowww.” He whined. “I’m just. Urgh.”

“Sorry I brought it up.” He really just kept making his brother upset today, didn’t he?

“It’s not your fault I’m messed up in the head, bro.” Will chuckled dryly.

“You’re not-” catching his brother's deadpan look, he trailed off. “I don’t think of it like that. You’re not messed up.”

“Hm. By the way, did you really write in here every day?” Will changed the topic quickly.

“Yes.” Clifford looked down at Will’s journal and let the pages run past, seeing them go blank far sooner than in his own diary, which was nearly full. “You apparently didn’t. You didn’t even put down dates for most of these, you just started a new page.”

“I was sort of distracted by the voice in my head, okay?” Will fidgeted. “I swear I would have written more, now that I can think a little clearer." he paused. "Honestly? There are some bits and pieces of memory missing from that first week in the hospital.”

Clifford nodded, getting the implication. Will’s other personality had been very different than it was now, but it had apparently changed over time. That didn’t really help him dismiss all this, but it must be worse for Will. Still… he’d keep an eye on that.

 

\------------------------

 

Clifford’s diary was painfully boring. He’d written something down every day, even if it was utterly insignificant.

‘At least it’s some comfort that I still think that way without someone telling me how to feel.’ Will mused, adding bite and direction to the thought, despite knowing he wouldn’t get an answer. He was still being heard.

He’d finally stumbled across the first memories, which Clifford had at first dismissed as strange dreams and nightmares, since they occurred in his sleep, then later as lifelike daydreams, before finally accepting them as real memories. Or at least part of them.

“What’s with all the forest-dreams?” Will asked. “Also, why are there some about me dying?”

“I think the latter might be some fever dream in regards to the accident. But for the others, just keep reading for now. Or just…” Clifford reached over and took his diary, flipping towards a page further in. “Read this.”

 

_ August 1st 2018, Wednesday _

_I woke up today around 6:30 AM. Our tutoring lessons were as usual today -_

Will frowned and skipped down towards the interesting part.

_I had another of those dream-memories. I keep trying to go write them down immediately, but sometimes, like today, it takes a while._

_It started out with me and Will standing together in a clearing. I was almost scared – in the memory, that is – but Will being there reassured me. At our feet, I saw Cordelia, which is very strange in hindsight, she looked tiny._

_She was looking up at us and then, she began to look around, asking where she was. I told her I didn’t know, but she couldn’t hear me,_

_Then, things became strange. She kept on calling if somebody was there, anybody, despite me and will telling her that we were right there with her._

_At that point, I – in the memory – realized as well, how small she was, and also, that I couldn’t move. Both her and Will were crying by then, I think and Cordy called for her parents and ran off into the forest._

_Will tried to call her back to us, but she never came back._

_It’s very strange how the dream could end like that, with the actual impact of never being there as something I could feel and understand, like I had just lost her forever._

_Then again, these fever-dream-memories, whatever they might be, are nonsensical most of the time anyways._

 

The entry goes on about the rest of the day, but Will closed the diary, thinking about what he just read.

‘I think I get it.’ he thought.

“It could be the same dream she told us about?” he asked Clifford. Will knew that this was serious to Clifford, who’d nearly filled his entire journal and would surely never add a false entry like this after hearing her story. This was really written at the beginning of this month, more than a week before Cordelia told them about this dream.

“I thought I’d ask you what you think.” Clifford answered. “After all….”

“I see was in there too, yes, but I can’t really recall anything and you know that.” He grumbled.

“I do, sorry.”

Will sighed. “Why is there so much going on?” At Clifford’s questioning gaze, he explained. “I-… I know there is something strange about my other personality, okay?  I know it’s not normal or even good, and possibly dangerous, and- whatever. There’s that mess. Then there’s you, all around normal, but with this shitload of inaccessible memories slowly coming back that paint two different pictures from what I’ve read.” He lifted the diary. “A normal happy family life one, and one about some dark forest world where everything is terrible.”

“You’re right.” Clifford admitted. “But what can we do, except wait? Me for more memories, you for your other half to …. I don’t know.”

“Preferably? Slip up so I can get him to admit there’s something off about him. He’ll just keep deflecting with logic if I don’t get some proof.” He growled, thinking of the accusation he made earlier when he was upstairs.

 

_He was hiding them. He had to be. ‘So, my twin is remembering things, getting his memories back and I’m not. And the only thing that makes me mentally different from him is you!’_

**_‘No, really? I know where you’re going with this.’_ **

_‘So?!’_

**_‘Kid, you don’t need to always yell at me. I hear you think it before you even direct it at me.’_ **

_‘ANSWER me!!’_

**_‘I don’t have them, you hear me? They are gone, and you’ll never get them back.’_ **

 

Funnily enough, the only reason he managed to calm down within a reasonable amount of time after that was because of the fucking ice tea he still had in his room. It was surprisingly very great for making him relax more, as he’d found out.

He did have to go to the basement and empty out another to confirm that completely though. The one in his room had only had a couple of sips left in it. Of course, he had also silenced his other half after that particular part of their conversation.

“Are we still doing the stone testing?” he asked, suddenly remembering the idea they had.

“If you want to, but I’m not really into it?”

 “I know. How about, I give you some of my money, you get me a stone, don’t tell me what it does, and I test it? I don’t think yours would work long anyways, apparently you need to charge them or something…”

“If it’s fine with you?”

“Sure, can you get me one tomorrow then? I’ll give you five bucks. Just don’t forget to write down what it is, so I can at least look it up if you forget what it does.”

“Alright, then.” Clifford nodded.

After that, they discarded the journal and diary and began to play around with Clifford laptop, Will showing his brother some minigames online and Clifford recommending some music to him.

“What about that thing Dennis said.” Will was sure he made a grossed out face, which made Clifford understand it immediately.

“Everybody?” Clifford sighed. “I didn’t really think about it much, _thanks_ for bringing it up. I nearly forgot about it.”

“Well, I heard about it on the internet, but…” Will shrugged. “Didn’t seem that great when Mr Stonefield told us about it.”

“I actually stumbled across a few stories, but I always stopped reading at those parts, because he did say it was illegal for us to access porn.”

“Stories?”

“Yes, people online write stories about everything, from movies and comics to real people and original stories. Those are often the easiest to read, I don’t get a lot of the references in the other ones.”

“Cordelia said something about a shapes-something book?”

“Fifty Shades, I think.”

“Yeah! What about that?” he stole the control over the keyboards from Clifford and typed it into the search bar. They were immediately assaulted with a wide range of trailers on YouTube.

“Ah.”

Will wasn’t sure who of them made that noise. He made it again just so he could see if his voice still worked. “You know what? I’m going to leave now. If I’m ‘reeducating myself’, I’m doing it alone.” He said, using Dennis phrasing from earlier.

“Yeah. Yes. That’s fine.” Clifford hastily closed the tab. And the next. Then the browser, before shutting off his laptop. And - needlessly - pulling the plug of the charger.

“Yes. Good night.”

“Night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't get your hopes up too much, I'm not letting you intrude on the poor boy's first explorations! O////O  
> Who do you think I am? xD


	27. Truce?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Hope you had a good start into the new year :D  
> (did you see the new years special yet? Go check 'In Between' ;D )
> 
> Now...  
> Regarding the nature of the stone shop and actually just plainly due to curiosity, I looked up Dipper and Mabel’s Zodiac sign, and found this cute little thing:
> 
> Good Day: Dedicated, resourceful, helpful, hardworking, witty, practical  
> Bad Day: Preachy, self-destructive, overwhelmed, self-pitying, uptight, critical
> 
> And I love how this fits Mabel and Dipper respectively :O
> 
> Also, this prompted me to fix the Taylor twins birthday for good! Their birthday is the 27th November, which makes them Sagittarius. I’m totally hooked on zodiac signs for inspiration right now <3 :D
> 
> Have fun!
> 
> Holly~♥

The morning at the start of their second week at school was something Will would very much like to never think of again. He’d had several problems that morning and the addition of mocking laughter in the back of his head along with witty commentary didn’t help things in the least.

**‘- can’t believe it, you were awake for almost two months! Hahaha, how did it take this body so long to do _that_?! This is hilari-‘**

‘Could you just shut up and let me eat in peace!’ he stuffed the aquamarine back under his shirt.

“Are you alright?” Clifford eyed him from across the breakfast table.

“Peachy.” He grumbled and quickly finished up, so he could go and get ready for school.

Thankfully, Clifford didn’t ask him again. At 8 AM, their mom dropped them off and they headed off to their math class. Suddenly, Clifford groaned. Will looked over to see his brother make a face at his timetable.

“I forgot we have English after this.”

“So?” Even as he said it, Will remembered. “Ooooh. Right.” Dipper shared that class with them. He thought for a moment.

‘Either Mabel told him, or she didn’t. If she didn’t, things are as usual. If she did, he might act in a different way. I could try talking to him one more time.’ He doubted something would come of it, but at the very least, he might be able to convince him to not tell anyone about his disorder if Mabel did tell him. He paused.

“What?” Clifford had kept walking a couple of steps, then halted as well and looked back towards him.

“I think I found another …thing.” Will made a face and stepped closer to his twin, lowering his voice as they moved on. “Normally, when I think of people knowing about my DID, it literally makes my skin crawl. I still feel like I shouldn’t tell anyone now, but… it really isn’t all that strong? It’s more of a thought and less like a ‘This cannot ever happen, or I’ll die’- kinda thing.”

“It was that bad?”

“Well, no. Yeah. Partly?” Will shrugged. “I mean, I could tell people I trust, like Cordelia and Dennis….and Mabel, now that I think of it. I don’t even know her that well, why would that have worked?”

‘Then again, that was also during the time **he** had mysteriously vanished.’ He thought. ‘I should really ask him what happened there, I keep putting it off.’

“Nevermind, actually, that makes sense, ‘cause he was missing then too. Holy shit, I think this might work!” he felt a grin spread across his face.

“What?” Clifford had a judging look on his face.

“I’m going to talk to Dipper, _one last time_.” He emphasized when the other looked like he was about to reprimand him. “Some things happened, I’m worried and I need to do this. And..” he paused. “I need to do this alone? So just, go ahead after English? I’ll catch up.”

Clifford gave him a long and thoughtful look, then he sighed. “I don’t like it, but fine. I’ll leave you to it.”

“Thank you.”

 

\----------------------

 

Time seemed to stretch on slower and slower the closer it got to the end of their English class. Math had already been bad in that regard, but this was downright torturous. Will fiddles with the string around his neck, but never pulled the stone out into the open.

He was going to keep a clear head for this.

Over the last three hours, he’d played through what felt like thousands of variants on how this talk might go, and was freaking himself out more and more by how many ways he felt it could go terribly wrong.

Ten minutes left.

He began to slowly pack is things together. He didn’t know if the other boy would leave as early as possible or if he would linger in the classroom, but he wanted to be ready for either. Clifford was going to leave at his own pace and then wait for him with the rest of their group.

Honestly, he shouldn’t be this worried about this. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. As it turned out, it wouldn’t bother him that much if Dipper actually went and spread anything about him, so that was one less thing to worry about.

The possibility of losing the almost-friendship he had with Mabel was a little more worrying, but she hung out with Cordy, so maybe, they could still become friends over time. Another nagging worry pacified.

Then why was he still so wound up? He only cared what Dipper thought because he was Mabel’s twin, and because he was apparently just as invested in her life as Clifford was in Wills. But from what he’d gathered, this had no bearing whatsoever on Mabel continuing trying to be friends with him. Or at least, it used to have. He still had no idea what she might think of him now.

His eyes darted to the clock. Five more minutes….

His desk was clear, so he had nothing else to do for now.

Will’s leg bounced under the table nervously and he caught Clifford’s glance. It was a look that clearly said he was against his idea, but his brother’s stance on this topic was pretty clear to him. He just didn’t think it was right to put this off. It would just make everything worse if he left this mess to stew, but Clifford was so focused on being protective that he didn’t see that.

He darted a look at Dipper, who glared at him. Must have noticed him looking over before. Perhaps he shouldn’t have looked so often, but he was nervous and angry and full of pent-up energy and honestly a little scared-

“And I’ll see you all on Friday. Don’t forget your homework, page 72 and 74-”

RRRRRRIIIIIINGG!

All students were quickly packing up, but Will stayed seated, waiting until Dipper passed by to pick up his already packed bag and follow after him.

Then he ran into the trouble of the classroom door. At the point Dipper reached it, there was still enough room to get through pretty easily, but once Will arrived there –

‘I’m only a second or so slower, how the fuck did it get so crowded to fast?!’ he did his best not to be rude as he pushed his way through, all the while keeping an eye on where the other boy was headed.

Apparently, down the side of the hallway, towards the emptier staircase. Both the main and side staircase were the same distance away from the classroom, but still, most students went for the bigger middle one.

Sharing a last look with his twin, he hurried after Dipper, while Clifford followed the mass of students.

Will caught up to Dipper half a floor down.

“Wait!” he called from the small platform between the floors.

Dipper kept walking, ignoring him.

He gritted his teeth.

He had enough of this. Even if he didn’t really mean it, someone would have to say it, or this would just get worse and worse.

“Listen, I’m sorry, alright!?” Will shouted after Dipper’s retreating back.

He suddenly whirled around, a glare on his face. “You’re _sorry_?!”

 “I didn’t know what I was doing.” He tried to defend.

“Then you should seriously sort out your mental issues!” Dipper hissed.

Will flinched back, the words like a slap to his face. Had Mabel told? Had she seen them fight on Friday after all and decided to tell her twin without consulting him? He had hoped she’d at least tell him when she did, but apparently, the feeling he had this weekend had been right after all.

“And you should do that somewhere else, far away from me and Mabel.”

“It isn’t that simple!” he yelled while glaring holes into the other boy. “I’m doing the best I can, alright?! You are such an asshole, Pines, just acting like that to get a rise out of me. Is this fun for you? Wanted to see the crazy kid snap?!”

“What are you talking about?!”

“My _mental issues_ , obviously!”

And as he stared down into the brunette’s eyes, seeing confusion and uncertainty among the hostility, his shoulders sagged. “She _didn’t_ tell you.”

“Could you talk like a normal person for a minute, because you totally lost me.”

“Oh god nooooo.” Will rubbed his hands over his face. He felt chuckles building up in his chest. “I have motherfucking _DID_.” He chuckled. “And I thought that’s why you hated me.”

“I….I don’t know what that is.”

“Dissociative Identity Disorder.” He met the other boy’s hazel eyes and held his gaze for a moment. Standing on a platform above the other was probably not the best position to put himself in for this, but moving to his level meant coming closer to the other, and that was probably not appreciated. “I’m sharing my brain with a second personality.”

Watching understanding dawn in the brunette’s eyes was surprising, but Will nodded and kept going. “So this is what’s going on. Last week, my less dominant – but apparently really scary from what I heard – that personality got away from me. I have no idea what I, or rather he did. The last thing I remember is getting a sudden headache, then suddenly everyone is staring at me like I was about to murder someone and I felt like shit. Physically that is, there was a reason I puked my guts out after.” He thought for a moment. Perhaps he could get a little more info on what exactly happened. “Noone told me what exactly happened, but _did_ I try to murder someone?”

“Um, not really? You _looked_ like you were about to do _something,_ but….” Something in Dippers eyes shifted, and he looked guilty all of a sudden. “Actually, nothing really happened.” He stepped a little closer. “I-… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to- I thought you were… I don’t know what I was thinking, I was just getting a bad vibe from you. That came out wrong.” He tried to apologize again, but Will shook his head.

“Perhaps it’s not wrong.”

“Huh?”

“I thought my other half was ... kinda like me, just a little smarter and cockier? But apparently, it also has enough of a murderous side to scare my twin.”

“He was scared? He looked more mad than scared.” Dipper looked confused, and Will could understand that, but-

“He tries to shift the attention away from himself. Clifford is a sweetheart, really, but sometimes it’s a little worrying how he always puts my wellbeing first. He was scared of me, I know it, but at the moment he was more angry at you for being such a dick initially.”

That was the thing that bothered him the most. The talk yesterday had helped a little, but it was clear that Clifford still preferred one of his two personalities over the other, and that- ….kind of hurts.

“….” Dipper was staring at the ground in front of him. Somewhere in the distance, the bell rang a second time, signalling the beginning of the teacher patrols. It went ignored due to the tension in the air.

“Truce?” Will offered his hand and moved down a step.

“….” Dipper looked up and stared at him sceptically, eyeing his stance and face, clearly searching for something. Then something in his eyes hardened and he took hold of his hand. “Truce.”

Will nodded thankfully. He had no idea what he found in his body language that convinced him to give him a second chance, but he was glad for it. “Thanks for giving me another chance. I’m sorry for blowing up at you. Twice.”

Dipper shrugged uncomfortably. “I guess I was being a jerk too. Sorry.”

An awkward silence settled around them and Will cleared his throat.

“Who’s there?” a voice echoed down the hallway above them. Then the sound of high heels walking towards them followed. “All students are supposed to be in the schoolyard unless strictly permitted or required to be inside!”

The boys jumped and shared a look before moving further down the stairs quickly and quietly. Once they reached the ground floor, they darted for the exit.

“Phew.” Will leaned against the closed door. “That was fun!”

“Fun!? We could have gotten detention!”

“Huh?” Will tilted his head. “What, they do that to kids for sneaking around inside? We didn’t even do anything. She wouldn’t have.”

“But she could!” Dipper argued.

“Pfft!” he waved it off. “So what? We would be having a little more school, get some homework done with no distractions and then we can go, right? That’s what detention is, correct?”

The brunette stared at him incredulously. “You-! I mean, technically, yes, but- The teachers have an eye on you then and-”

Will grinned. “Oh no! The teachers are keeping an eye on us! How terrible!” he joked. “Because I am totally plotting something to destroy the school or ….do whatever that - the reason they’re patrolling in the first place is.” He shot a questioning look at the other. “So, probably, damaging school property or something? I don’t really know. Are you planning something like that?”

“W-what?! Of course not!”

“Well, great! Then why worry about being under their scrutiny?” he spread his arms and walked backwards, away from the door and towards the schoolyard.

“I-! You are- What the hell is wrong with you?!” By now, Dipper looked pretty confused and freaked out, which made Will laugh.

“Many things, you know that!” Then, with great effort, he made a serious face. “But mostly I am just cursed with an awful sense of humour and no self-preservation instinct.”

The face the brunette made then topped the one from before and he burst out laughing again. “I’ll go join my pals. See ya!” he waved and turned to leave.

“You’re so, so…..” Dipper mumbled the rest of that and he didn’t stop to ask what he said. For now, they were mostly on neutral ground.

“Feel free to join us sometime!” he called, a means of staying on good terms. “Mabel can come as well, she’s friends with Cordy anyhow.”

“Alright.”

Will darted a look over his shoulder and waved once more before walking off with a skip in his step and a soft smile on his face.

When he walked up to their groups meeting spot that break, everyone greeted him with anticipating faces.

“How did it go?” Clifford asked, clearly ready to jump up and pummel a certain someone if something went badly. Will shot him a look and he backed down a little, but he still looked displeased.

“Well, at least Mabel didn’t tell him about my Personality Problems.” He sighed and dropped his on the bench. “I did that.”

“What?” Dennis raised a brow. “Why would you do _that_?”

“I thought she told him. He talked as if she did.”

“Oh my god!” Cordy slapped her forehead. “I’m so sorry, I knew I forgot something!”

“Huh?” Will said before he remembered her promise the other day. “Oh.”

“I asked her yesterday and she said she would never do something like that because you were having a fight. Said it would have to be ‘Something worse’.” She made quotation marks with her fingers. “Don't know what that could be, but…. Yeah. And then I flunked out on telling you!” she buried her head in her hands. “I’m sorry, Will.” She mumbled.

“Nah.” He shrugged. “In the end, I guess it worked out fine. We agreed on a truce and started over. Hopefully, we can get along better on the second try.”

 

\-----------------------------

 

Clifford was staring intently at Dipper over his shoulder.

They were in their Writing class and currently most students were focused on the task they’d been given, but he’d been sneaking glances for most of the lessons, only held at bay by Wirt who kept shooting him looks as well whenever he turned to look. By now, Dipper had noticed this as well and had taken to focusing solely on his paper.

Still.

Clifford caught Wirt’s reprimanding look and huffed before turning back to his own text.

If Will wants to forgive and forget, fine. But he would keep an eye out, since he wasn’t quite convinced that Dipper was really willing to try yet.

Strike one had been that Dipper was so adamantly against his twin from the start, despite having no reason to act in such a way. If he was feeling generous and if Dipper actually tried to be nice to Will, he would perhaps consider including the fact that he made Will cry and worry for his first new friendship all week in that first strike, but until then that was its own Strike two.

Essentially, the brunette was on thin ice right now and if Clifford caught him moving a step out of line…

He was about to turn again, but halfway through the turning of his head, he caught Wirt’s eyes again, who was apparently done with his text and had laced his fingers together under his chin, keeping his gaze fixed on him.

Clifford raised a brow and for some reason, Wirt averted his eyes again, but not before shaking his head at him.

After class, he waited for Wirt and Dipper to pack so they could talk. He noted that Anna stayed behind and was hanging around Wirt a lot. Recalling their talk about Anna’s behaviour the other day, he frowned and moved between them in a fashion meant to cut them off from each other, hoping that it went unnoticed by the girl.

“Oh, hi!” Anna beamed. “I was just chatting with Wirt, you two are pals, right?”

“Hm.” He made a noise that could be interpreted however she wanted and studied her closely, as well as keeping an eye on Dipper periodically.

She was shorter than him, but her heels made her taller than many other boys in class. Anna didn’t particularly look mean or very strong, but rather sweet and kind. He really didn’t get what was so bad about her, she’s only ever been rude in any way towards Dipper, who had been the one to break up with her, so…

And there he went.

“Come on.” He waved at Wirt to come with him.

“Uh. Yeah. Sorry-… See you?” Wirt stammered and followed him quickly. “Thanks.” He breathed when they were out of her earshot.

“Still don’t get what’s wrong with her, but sure.” He shrugged and quickened his pace to catch up to Dipper. “Hey!”

The boy sighed and slowed down to let the other two catch up to him. “Yes? Is this about your brother? I’m sorry about that.”

“Really?” Clifford quirked a disbelieving brow at him.

“Come on, don’t fight!” Wirt spoke up.

“We aren’t.” Clifford stated, head held high and looking down at Dipper. “I’m just saying, I don’t trust you. You hurt my brother and now all of a sudden you’re okay with him?”

“I didn’t know about his…. Thing.” He darted a look around the emptying hallway. “Look, can we move this outside? I nearly got caught in the hallway once already today and I don’t want to get into trouble.”

“….watch your step.” He stared down at him and frowned. “If you hurt Will again…” he trailed off before moving past Dipper and leaving, not even looking to see if Wirt followed him or not.

Clifford kept a quick pace until he got to the school gates, heart hammering away in his chest. Apparently, Wirt had stayed behind.

“I did the right thing.” He reassured himself. He did. Will was too reckless, he was sure to get hurt if he had no one to watch out for him.

 

_‘Do you ever wonder where the girl went?’ Will asked._

_Did he mean Cordelia?_

_‘Cordelia? Home, I think?’ he answered._

_‘…..’_

_‘…..’_

_‘….Why are we not allowed to go?’_

_‘…..’_

_‘…Cliff?’_

_‘I don’t know, Willard.’_

_‘Did we do something wrong?’_

_‘…I don’t know.’_

_‘How long has it been?’_

_‘I don’t know…’_

_‘Do you… remember what happened?’_

_‘You don’t?’ he asked. They had an accident, right?_

_‘Not really. Can you tell me?’_

_And so he did. It made time pass a little faster._

 

“Clifford?” Will’s voice snapped him out of his trance.

“Ugh.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “These come at the strangest times.”

“…What was it about?”

He looked his twin in the face. “It was the tree thing again, so nothing important.”

Will nudged him with his shoulder and started moving. “Tell me anyways.”

“You were asking me a bunch of stuff. I think…. I think you forgot Cordelia’s name? And you said you didn’t remember, so perhaps…” he trailed off. Because ‘perhaps that’s when you lost your memories.’ sounded ridiculous. It was a fever dream caused by their coma, nothing more.

“And then?”

“I told you stuff. So we could pass the time.”

“So you remembered and I didn’t.” he hummed.

“Sorry.”

“Stop apologizing, it’s fine.” He paused at the intersection that leads to the stone shop and dug around in his pockets. “Here.” Will handed him a five-dollar bill. “I’m gonna wait here. Pick out something cool, okay?” he grinned and leaned against a wall, leaving Clifford to head down the street by himself.

Drawing near, the familiar smell of incense greeted him, and this time around, it was less suffocating than before. Probably due to the practice he had with Will’s room.

“Hello, nice to see you again.” The old lady greeted warmly. “Looking for something in particular?”

He was about to decline her offer to help, but then thought otherwise. “Yes, actually. I’m looking for a stone to give to my brother.”

“Hmm, alright.” She put away her knitting needles and stood. “You two are… probably Sagittarius?”

His brows shot up. “Yeees?” he drew out the word in a sceptic fashion.

She hummed in affirmation. “Yes, yes, you’re very mature for your age. If you two weren’t twins I’d have never thought of it.”

“Um.” He searched for words. “Why?”

“Twins tend to try and set themselves apart from each other, and often push towards opposing spectrums of their zodiac signs. I assume you like to read? Perhaps you enjoy school more than your brother does?”

He nodded slowly. This was a little creepy and he was suddenly reminded of Will’s insistence that the lady _knew something_. “How did you-…?”

“Your twin is very enthusiastic, but seems like the kind of person who’d rather be on the move than stuck in one place for too long. If he is the active part of the Sagittarius, he might start travelling after school. I can’t tell you the future, but I do know zodiac signs. And you, boy, must be more the type to display the Sagittarius’s quest for truth-seeking. You do look like someone who would rather study than go on adventures, to be honest.”

Clifford was floored. He’d come in here expecting more ‘magic card turning’ and some vague predictions, but this sounded so real. But since they were on the topic…

“Pardon me, but my twin seems convinced that you are…. I don’t know how to put it.”

“A witch?” her eyes sparkled.

“Oh no! Nothing like that!” he waved his hands.

“Pah! Don’t worry!” she laughed. “I have been called many things already, but I am just making lucky guesses. Not many people believe in astrology, but…” she trailed off. “You said you were looking for a stone? Gift stones may be the slightest bit less effective, you know. When choosing a stone, one should follow their intuition and gut feeling. It tells you which one works best for you.”

“You choose the stone for my twin the other week.” He recalled.

“That boy was screaming for an aquamarine, the difference is so minimal, it wouldn’t have mattered if he chose it himself or not.” She dismissed.

“What do you mean?”

The old lady gave him a long and serious look before humming once more and moving towards the stones. “I believe your brother could use some calm and focus every now and then.” She hands him a small box full of purple and white stones. “A chevron amethyst.” She said.

“Is that what it does?” he asked as he looked through the stones, keeping one he spotted initially in his hand as he looked for something that might be even better.

“Both the amethyst and white quartz are strong stones, the white quartz boosts the calming and stress-relieving properties of the amethyst.”

Suddenly, he has a thought.

“Do you have one that helps with memory?”

“For you, or your brother?” She eyed him quickly before nodding. “Your brother then. Try Azurite. It has a strong effect on the mind and intellectuality.”

He puts away the chevron amethyst and looks for the other type of stone.

“What exactly does it do?”

“Hmmm…. Doubtful. You probably have a bet going on, am I correct?”

He was starting to get used to the lady’s ‘lucky guesses’, but…

“Actually, we do.”

“And your twin is convinced they are working, which is why you are buying the stones for him. Tell him this one aids creativity and stimulates memory. Since it helps one stay focused on a single task, many people like to use it for studying. It also said to let you retain information from the spiritual realm, something that people like to call clairvoyance.”

The stone he picks out, in the end, is a dark blue azurite with lighter, but still vibrant blue bands making circles on its surface, a couple of green flecks peeking through. There wasn’t a little hole for a necklace in it too, but since just the stone was five dollars – understandably so, the pattern was gorgeous – he would leave it to Will to find a cord to use for it.

“I wasn’t quite certain where to sort this one to.” The lady admitted. “It is clearly malachite beneath the surface, but still intermingled with azurite, so... its more of an azurmalachite and may have some other effects too. It might inspire change and it may help in any relationships your twin might have by bringing in new perspectives and a clearer understanding. Also,” she added, turning around and staring at him seriously. “These are all tumbled, so don’t worry about having it come into contact with water.”

“What do you mean?”

“When the dust from raw malachite comes into contact with water, it emits toxic fumes. Napoleon Bonaparte died this way, you know.”

His eyes widened. “You sell poison?!” he shot a glance at the box packed full of malachite.

She sighed. “As I said, these are tumbled, so nothing to worry about. I just finished that batch yesterday actually. Bought a nice big malachite, but it wouldn’t sell at the size it had, so I cut it down and there you have it.” she gestured at the full box.

“…I’ll just take this then.” He handed her the azurite.

“That’ll be 5 dollars.”

Clifford handed her the money and bid her goodbye before heading back up the street where Will was playing with his phone.

“That took a while!” he grinned. “Show me what you got!”

Clifford handed him the stone and Will squealed.

“Oh my god, it’s so pretty! How much was it?”

“Exactly five dollars. So, no necklace. It has a hole though.” He pointed out.

“It’s seriously pretty, what is it?”

“I can’t tell you or you’ll look it up.” He chuckled and tilted his head in the rough direction of home. “Let’s go.”

“You’re right, I would.” Will snickered. “But seriously, this is so beautiful, thank you!”

“It’s your money.” Clifford mumbled, still pleased that Will liked the stone he picked. “Just-….”

“What?”

“…don’t put it in your mouth? Or in water? The lady said some things and I’m a little spooked, but I’m pretty sure that stone might be toxic if it comes into contact with water.”

Will stared at him, trying to discern whether he was serious or not. “Holy fuck, that old lady sells poison?!” he looked absolutely stunned. “That’s both cool and terrifying, are you sure she isn’t actually evil?”

“No. I asked her.”

“What?!”

“I guess she’s just old and wise, as well as well-read about astrology and people’s mannerisms. Also, she makes a lot of lucky guesses.”

“….So, not a witch?”

“You really thought that?” he looked at his twin incredulously.

“…maybe?” Will shrugged.

“Because that’s exactly what she suggested you might think she is when I asked her.”

“…..She so is a witch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Among the stones I considered for Will, I also hat Topaz and Atacamite… but perhaps, I’ll keep those for later >:D  
> So, what I’m saying is, THINGS are going to pick up their pace soon! (/^w^)/
> 
> (If you want to look up the supposed powers of these stones, don't let me stop you, but it almost borders on spoiling yourselves, so I thought I'd warn you.)


	28. Weekend Outing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Thank you all so much for all your nice comments, those really motivate me (*wink wink nudge nugde*) xD
> 
> On another hand, finals are coming up, but I am confident that I have enough pre-written chapters to make it without missing any ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ  
> If that does happen, I will warn you beforehand, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.
> 
> I'M READY FINALS, COME AT ME! (ง •̀_•́)ง
> 
> That being said, enjoy this chapter :D  
> (I think I wrote it from the wrong POV.....oh, well, too late now)
> 
> Holly~♥

By the time Friday rolled around, Will had taken to wearing the azurmalachite Clifford gave him to school, using a leather cord his mom dug out from somewhere to keep it around his neck. He still wore the aquamarine, but he kept it out of his shirt more often, since it seemed that the other stone was affecting his other personality more than him.

Said other half was also the one who told him what stone it was on the second day he wore it. And he might have done it on the first day if Will hadn’t used the aquamarine against him all Tuesday. He’d wanted to see how the new stone worked with and without the aquamarine and had left it at home on Wednesday. Never again would he give up the silencing stone – as he had taken to calling it.

**‘Wow, thank you. I feel so cherished.’**

‘Shut up.’ He groaned inwardly, but kept the stone out. He would put it back if the other kept being annoying during the movie.

Currently, he and Clifford were standing in line to get popcorn for their group. At the moment, they were six people – him and his twin, Dennis, Wirt and Cordelia, who had invited Mabel along to the cinema, which had gotten his approval immediately.

They were going to watch the movie – some nostalgic call-back movie about a man and his old stuffed animals - then have their sleepover at Cordy’s house, which was familiar territory for Mabel. And on Saturday they were going to go to the zoo.

After getting three big buckets of popcorn and five sodas – he and Clifford were going to share a big one, so it would be less to carry – they somehow managed to get back to the others without spilling anything.

“Hey, why didn’t you say something?!” Mabel darted forward to take one of the big popcorn buckets off Will.

“Oof, thanks.” He grinned sheepishly. “We underestimated how much we would have to carry.”

Wirt helped Clifford hand another bucket to Dennis and gave everyone their sodas, so that Clifford now only carried their soda and Will their popcorn.

“Thank you.” Clifford nodded thankfully. “Next time, we’ll ask for help.”

They entered the theatre and sorted themselves onto their seats, switching around until they found an order that worked. Since Clifford and Will were going to share their popcorn and drinks, they sat next to each other, and Mabel sat in between Cordy and himself, probably because she didn’t know any of the others that well.

“Can I sit at the edge?” Dennis asked. “I’m still not feeling well, so if I’m going to have to leave somewhere in the middle of the movie, I don’t want to interrupt you guys.”

Dennis had been sick yesterday and today, but he didn’t want to miss their group outing today, so he’d come along still feeling a little ill.

Wirt looked down the row, then decided it was easier to just sit down where he was. “Sure, I’ll just stay here. I-is that okay?” he asked Clifford, who shrugged and nodded.

“Fine by me.”

Throughout the movie, it turned out that Mabel and Cordy were way quicker with their popcorn than any of the guys, and only halfway through, Will gave up his and Clifford’s popcorn to them. Dennis didn’t eat much popcorn, so the remaining bucket ended up on the older twin’s lap.

The movie was fun, even though there were some things that Will didn’t quite get despite the rough summary their friends gave them of the series the movie was based on.

At the end of it, the group had completely obliterated the popcorn and sodas, but…

“I am still hungry.” Will stated, befuddled, when they left the theatre.

“Happens.” Cordy shrugged. “I’m good.”

“I’m a little hungry still.” Mabel added.

Dennis groaned. “I think I might puke.”

Will gave a short laugh.

“No, I’m serious!” Dennis blurted before he ran off towards the toilets.

“Oh.”

The group quickly followed and Clifford went in after the other while the rest of them waited outside.

After emerging from the bathroom, Dennis decided to stay home.

“I would have loved going to the zoo with you, but as it stands, I think I’m better off resting.” He fixated Cordy with a serious stare that probably would have been more effective if he were not struggling to stand straight. “Take photos, Deli. I want to see their reaction to the igloo if possible and go to the lemur island with them. Also, any big reaction to the animals.”

“I’m on it!” Cordy saluted before her grin turned into a more worried expression. “Now go rest, it was nice to have you here with us, but if you feel like shit you should rest.”

Together, they brought home Dennis, before going over to Cordy’s place

They ate dinner with her parents before heading upstairs to her room and began to spread out all over the room. In the end, the whole room looked like a single mattress.

“Huh. Anyone want to actually sleep on one single mattress?” Cordy asked, before lying down haphazardly across three mattresses. “Because, this rocks. And I’m not moving.”

Mabel flopped down next to her. “I agree! This is awesome.”

The boys sorted themselves to lay down and Will was about to reach for a lighter to-

“Oh.” He just realized something.

“What?” Clifford asked.

“No incense.” Will mumbled. “Urgh, great.”

“What?” Cordy sat up and raised a brow at him.

“Ah, nothing!” he deflected. “It’s nothing.”

**‘Haha.’**

‘I hate you. Please just let me have a couple of breaks tomorrow?’ Will asked. If he couldn’t charge the stones tonight, they would surely run out of power tomorrow. Which still sounded weird, but it worked, so whatever.

“By the way, what do you think the new one does?” Clifford asked suddenly.

“What are you guys talking about?” Mabel asked.

“We have a bet going about whether stones have magic or not.” His brother explained.

“Not magic.” Will grumbled.

“What else?”

“I don’t knoooow!” Will whined. “But they do _something_ , at the very least….. The one you gave me is an azurmalachite, right?”

Clifford shot him a surprised look. “Impressive. You could probably compete with the stone shop lady.”

“Thank you. So, it definitely helps me concentrate in school, so it probably some brain focus powers, right?”

Clifford nodded and Mabel raised a brow at him. “Woah, are you saying the stones are magic!?”

“Not magic!” he protested. “Something else!”

“Which ones do you have?”

“My first one is this one.” He gestured to the stone on top of his shirt. “An aquamarine, the second one” he fished it out from underneath. “Is the azurmalachite.”

The others scooted closer to see.

“Wooow, it’s gorgeous!” Cordy exclaimed.

“It looks like the ocean.” Mabel breathed.

His brother got a strange look on his face. “Did you notice anything else? What it does?”

“Nope, why?”

Clifford made a slightly pained face.

**‘Azurite helps with memory problems.’**

Will's eyes widened and he looked down at the stone, a tight feeling in his chest. “Ah.”

**‘But it can’t help with something that doesn’t exist’**

“Thank you anyways.” He directed at Clifford. “But it seems they’re really gone for good.”

“I’m….” Clifford trailed off, probably recalling all the times Will had told him this week that he didn’t have to apologize.

“What’s up.” Cordy demanded suddenly. “Something is wrong, and you aren’t telling us. So spill.”

Clifford looked over to Will. A short moment of agreement passed between them and he nodded. “I’m getting some memories back.”

Cordy beamed. “Really?! That’s great news!”

“Except it isn’t.” Clifford gritted his teeth. “Because it’s just me.”

“Um.” Will interrupted his twin. “Shouldn’t we do this when Dennis is here too?”

Clifford shook his head. “Who do you think convinced me to tell you?”

“Right, you guys have amnesia, right?” Mabel looked between the two of them and Cordy.

“Yup.” She replied. “Got a bump to the head and knocked them right out from what I’ve gathered.”

“And something through the eye?” she gestured at Will.

“Dennis won’t talk about it.” Cordelia answered. “Must have been pretty gruesome, I think.”

“But Clifford is remembering things?” Wirt brought them back to the topic at hand.

“Yes. But…” Clifford sighed. “It’s complicated.”

He relayed to the other three roughly what had happened so far, from the first inklings of memory he had when they went to their old elementary school and the following mixture of memories and dreams. He didn’t elaborate and Will had a feeling he didn’t want to give them a reason to not believe him by saying he had the same dream Cordy described.

“-and since me and Will have a sort of test going on – regarding the stone thing – I figured I could give it a try and give him a stone that’s supposed to help with memory.” He shrugged.

“Thanks.” Will smiled, making sure that Clifford caught it. “Even if it didn’t help, it was a sweet gesture.”

“W-well. It _is_ just a stone.” Wirt argued. “They don’t do anything.”

“This one sure does.” Will smirked and fiddled with his aquamarine. “It makes my other personality shut up.”

“What?” Wirt shot him a disbelieving look.

“I literally can’t give you any proof that you can touch- except…” he trailed off. “I’m left-handed, he’s right-handed. When I wear the stone on my skin I can’t write with my right hand, even though usually I’m basically ambidextrous.”

“But some people won’t count that as proof.” Cordy added. “Since you _could_ just pretend to suddenly be unable to write.”

“….Okay, but usually I also charge the stone every evening in my room. That’s what the incense does.”

“The stuff that makes your room smell so good?” Cordy asked.

“Yup. And I don’t have that here, so it might run out of charge tomorrow, which may or may not influence my other half in some way.”

Mabel makes a thoughtful face. “Buuut, how do you know _you’re_ not the ‘other half’?”

“Simple.” He poked the stone. “I noticed that earlier this week when I left the aquamarine at home. As long as I wear it in any way, I can very clearly tell the difference between the two of us.”

“What else do these stones do?”

“All kinds of stuff?” Will shrugged. “Some help with mental or emotional problems, others with actual illnesses or broken bones-”

“Woah, really?!” Mabel beamed. “I want one! Where did you get these?”

“Um, there’s a shop near the school.” Will answered. “If you want, we can go there on Monday?”

“Oh my gosh, yes!”

They spent the rest of the evening looking up stones and their supposed powers on Cordy’s laptop.

 

\----------------------

_ August 24th 2018, Friday _

_School was as usual. I cannot believe I am already so used to it that I can write that. As Usual._

_It’s not necessarily boring, but I sometimes get the feeling that I have not learned a thing, until I look back and see that there is a clear difference between now and our first day at school._

_The movie was fun, but Dennis was still too sick to have come along. He had promised he would come to the movies with us, but then he had to throw up, so he won’t come along tomorrow._

_On another note, the girls ate almost all the popcorn. Which made my brother give them ours. Which led to me holding the last bucket so Will and Wirt could both still get some._

_Therefore, they could technically be held responsible for that awkward… hand-thing that happened with Wirt._

_I think Wirt is avoiding me now. I don’t know what to make of this, but then again, it’s already …however late.           (1:04 AM)_

_They all know about the memories now, not in detail, just that there are some that fit and others that feel off. We also talked about the stones, Mabel seemed really interested in that. We used Cordelia’s laptop to look up different stones and their effects._

_All the others are sleeping now, I think I should sleep as well._

 

\-------------------------

 

The next morning, they all got woken up by Cordy’s alarm blaring at 9:00 AM.

“Whyyyyy??” groaned Mabel and Will burrowed himself deeper into his bedsheets, which swiftly got ripped off him by his diabolical brother.

“Wake up, guys. We wanted to be early if I recall correctly?”

“How long have _you_ been awake?” Cordy grumbled and Will looked over to see that Clifford was already fully dressed and his bed – or the spot where he slept – was also made.

“How.” He asked and groaned before slowly rising.

It took them all about half an hour to get ready, then they all packed their backpacks with water and some snacks before splitting between the two cars of the MacWordply’s. Him, Cordy and Mabel went with Mrs MacWordply, the other two went with Cordy’s dad.

The drive to the zoo was pretty long, but Cordy assured him that it was worth it.

When they arrived, the lines at the ticket booths were already at a decent length. Nothing that took very long – they only had to wait for ten minutes- but it was still longer than Will had expected.

“Alright!” Cordy dragged them over to a large map of the zoo and snatched a pamphlet with a smaller map on it from the stand next to it. “This zoo has three sections. Or four, if you consider the entrance and the restaurants.”

Will looked up at the map. There were three big areas labelled ‘Alaska’, ‘Africa’ and ‘Asia’. “Where do we go?” he asked.

“All of them, in order!” Cordy beamed. “Alaska was built first, then there’s Africa and then we’ll finish it all with Asia. If we still have time afterwards, we can go back to our favourites, or visit the petting zoo over there.” She pointed at a part of the entrance area. “Sounds good to you guys?”

After a round of various affirmations, the group went on to explore. It turned out that each area was a tour that only allowed minimal – if any – deviations from the path. The path for the Alaska area led them through a fake landscape made of rocks and forest, past lynxes and snowy owls to beavers, porcupines and skunks, before they came across a bridge at a lake and decided to take a break at the diner there.

Cordy was giggling to herself as she looked through the photos she had taken so far.

“What?” Clifford asked. Cordy turned the camera so they could see a picture she’d taken of Clifford where he had some sort of porcupine directly behind his head.

“Pfft.” Will giggled. “You look like you’ve gotten electrocuted!” he poked his twin in the shoulder.

“You’re one to talk, mister.” Cordy showed them another picture, this one of Will being completely enamoured with the owls.

He shrugged and grinned. “They _are_ beautiful.” He offered as an explanation.

Another photo showed all of them in an old bus that had been set up at the skunk enclosure, where Cordy had taken the driver’s seat and took a slightly lopsided selfie of herself and the others, who had taken seats somewhere behind her. Then she showed one of Mabel going down the kiddie slide at the little playground they encountered on the way, before quickly taking one of Wirt when he got pestered by one of the ducks from the lake to give it food.

Shortly after, they decided to vacate the area, since now there were four to five of them terrorizing the group and other nearby visitors.

The next part of the tour transformed the landscape into something more rocky and less foresty. They looked over large enclosures with reindeer and bears, then they came to sort of cave.

“Oh, this is neat!” Cordy informed them and waved at the rest of the group to follow her.

Inside the cave, they were startled by a sudden noise, which came from a short movie that was being projected on a glass pane behind a grate. This made it look like the person in the movie was actually a ghost, much to the joy of the kids there.

There was a lot of talk about gold and killing them if they wanted to take it before the ghost kicked a small trolley towards them - which startled even some of the adults in the audience – before apparently blowing himself up.

There was some other stuff in the cave, like an endless well –

**‘A simple mirror trick.’**

‘If you say so.’

\- and some lightless rooms that seemed endless as well, but really were just small and really dark caves splitting off from the main path.

It was actually the first time that day that his other half made itself known, so Will didn’t really have any reason to be irritated yet. This was fine.

Right after the cave, they came out next to a cliff and a thundering waterfall.

Clifford paled and took a step back. “We have to cross that?” he pointed towards the rickety looking rope bridge in front of them.

“Nah.” Cordy reassured them. “See that?” she pulled him to the side a little, which made him realize the normal bridge right behind the first one. “If you’re too chicken, you can use that one.”

“Then I’m chicken.” He readily agreed.

“I’m going to come along as well.” Wirt joined in. “I know it’s probably safe, but…no thanks.” He shook his head.

Therefore, the girls and Will took the rope bridge, while the other two went over the normal one. And Will was pretty happy with his choice. They were a little further away from the waterfall, but it made the whole tour feel a lot more real.

Right after, they encountered big fake bones sticking out of the ground – whale bones, as Cordy explained – before coming up to the sea lions. The path curved downwards and into another cave, which became an underground observing platform for the diving animals. They passed through a glass tunnel before the windows in the cave started to show them polar bears instead of the sea lions. When they came out of the cave, they came out right next to the polar bears.

“Okay, everyone done here?” Cordy asked after a few minutes, actually bouncing from one foot to the other. “The next thing is really cool.” She lead them all to a split-off section labelled ‘Ice Adventure’.

There was a line in front of the next cave, so they had to wait for about seven minutes before they could enter. Inside, some parts of the wall were replaced with real ice instead of fake, white painted rocks and the boys quickly started messing around with the handprints left there by what Will assumed to be several thousand people touching the same spots over and over. There was a door at the end of the hallway, so he supposed they would have to wait until they opened.

A video began to play on the screens above them, which at one point asked to not touch the walls of the igloo.

Several people in the cave immediately took their hands off the ice.

“Oh, come on, that’s just mean.” Will whispered, which made both his twin and the girls chuckle. Wirt offered a smile.

When the doors opened, the twenty or so people moved to the next room, which very much looked like the inside of a big igloo. There were handrails and places where the floor looked strange, covered in rubber or glass, and there were three big screens displaying more igloo.

‘So, we are probably going to get lectured even more on Inuit.’ Will concluded from the video they just saw in the hallway and the way this was continuing, when all of a sudden, the entire structure trembled. Wills hands immediately grabbed the handrails in front of him.

The woman from the video said something about an earthquake and then-

… then the ice ‘fell’ from the screens and the igloo lurched once more before careening down the hill it was standing on.

It turned out the rubber mats on the floor could move, simulating the bumps they were slipping – and later on _swimming_ – over, while the glass was another screen showing them what was beneath them. Like that one part where half the igloo was hanging over a cliff or the other time orcas swam around it.

At the end of the ride, the igloo crashed into some house on stilts at a lake, where the lady spoke up again and told them all to get off quickly, before they got hurt.

Essentially, the whole thing was awesome and Will voted to ride it again. And again.

Clifford, who had already sat out the second ride with Wirt, convinced him to wait for later to go a fourth time, since he and Wirt were apparently dying of boredom.

From the exit, he could see the diner, but Cordy told them they needed to move on if they wanted to do all three areas, so instead of taking another break, they simply drank a little before powering on. Cordy shot a few more photos at the wolf enclosure, where Will, Clifford and Wirt all climbed onto the ranger station to look over the fence. When he spotted Mabel lounging inside the hut next to it, she seemed to be very content and looked right at home.

Then, after the otters and elks, the five teens wandered back out into the entrance area. Immediately, Cordy pulled them over to Africa.

When faced with the map, Will realized ‘Africa’ was about three times as large as ‘Alaska’, which probably made sense, seeing as there were far more animals here. As in 40 types of animals versus 15.

The first break they got to take was after lions and zebras, hyenas and ostriches, antelopes and porcupines and that bird enclosure and lastly the giraffes, which yeah - those were impressive.

The enclosures of the herbivores were actually just two giant ones, one grassier, one less. The spot they chose for their break was in plain sight of both and Will could also see a few boats on the nearby lake.

“Anyone want to go on the boat ride?” Mabel asked.

“Yup.” Cordy offered a high five with one hand while keeping the other on her lunch. He checked the time only to find it was already 2:30 PM.

“When does the zoo close?” he asked.

“Around 6:30 PM.” She answered. “Don’t worry, we can make it. And if we don’t, believe me when I say Asia sucks. The ‘Asia’ here at least.”

“Urgh, yeah.” Mabel agreed. “They put up this giant terrarium, which is sort of cool, but one half is just a giant indoor playground? There are barely any animals, like, even less than in Alaska and everything feels so fake. In the other two areas they put way more effort into making the tour seem like something natural to the visitors. I mean, look around!” she spread her arms at the two mixed enclosures, the red dirt path in comparison to the white and grey gravel in ‘Alaska’ and the landscaping of the enclosures.

Wirt hummed in agreement. “It’s pretty neat.”

After they all finished their lunch, the teens boarded the next possible boat ride around the lake, which brought them a little closer to some monkeys and flamingos before they moved around the lake on foot. The tour got a little confusing afterwards, but after they went through a greenhouse with snakes, bats and hippos, they found what Cordy called -

“Lemur Island!” she beamed. “They run around freely on the island, and when I was little I had a lemur on my shoulder once!” she stage whispered that last part. “Also, hold onto your belongings, they love to steal your stuff.”

In the end, noone’s stuff got stolen, but none of them got to touch a lemur either. By the time they came back out into the entrance area, it was nearly 5:00 PM.

“Alright, one hour left.” Mabel observed. “Not enough time for Alaska, I think, definitely not enough for Africa, sooo?”

“Petting zoo.” Cordy decided.

“What about Asia?” Wirt asked.

“The petting zoo is better.” The ginger-haired girl replied.

This was also where Will discovered that goats were amazing. Also, sheep – to a lesser degree, but their eyes were awesome looking too, so it counted. There were also some ponies and a donkey as well as some pigs. Strangely enough, the girls gravitated more to the pigs than to the ponies.

Wirt didn’t seem interested in the animals and just stood near the fence, where he soon got company by a peacock. Cordy took photos of his resulting struggle to evade the bird as it followed him around everywhere. In the meanwhile, Clifford went to get Will some food for the animals from a dispenser nearby. And Will….

“Will, we have to go soon.” Clifford stated dryly.

“But it loves me!” Will looked up with a puppy-eyed look, still petting the baby goat that had taken residence on his lap when he sat down on a tree stump.

“Baaa!” the squeaky voice of the goat answered.

“See?!”

“This peacock seems to love me too, so please let us leave!” Wirt called over the fence, the girls laughter in the background.

In the end, he had to remove the baby goat himself and their little group left at exactly 6:30 PM.

 

\-------------------------

__

_ August 25th 2018, Saturday _

_This is before breakfast: I slept. I thought about it. I still don’t get it._

_All the others are still asleep and Wirt picked the spot that’s the furthest away from me._

_I should write to Dennis and ask if I committed some social faux-pas that I should be aware of._

_Dennis didn’t get it and I feel like Cordelia wouldn’t either. Will might, but…._

_I’ll ask when we’re home._

_The zoo was really fun._

_There was this igloo ride that Will loved, so he and the girls went on there several times, while Wirt and I waited outside. We actually had a nice chat about the tour so far. Since he only moved here last year, he didn’t know this zoo, so we were on the same page about a couple of things._

_For example, I asked him why he didn’t take the rope bridge. I would have pegged him to be more adventurous. He said he’d rather stay on the safer path. It reminded me of the poem he wrote in our first Writing class. It’s probably why I thought he’d take the rope bridge._

_‘Africa’ was more enjoyable to me, since Will didn’t run off on his own (or with the girls) and the boat ride was great too. I am a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see the ‘Asia’ area, if only to see what was so bad about it._

_Will seemed to have a lot of fun in the petting zoo. I don’t really get it, but the baby goat_ did _look a little cute? As do all baby animals? Apparently, Mabel has a house pig? I overheard her talking about it – him? – to Cordelia when I went to get food for Will to feed to the goats._

_I asked Will about the thing with Wirt. He said perhaps it’s a personal thing. I don’t know if I should ask him about it or not…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's hope I don't get sued for the zoo description.... O.O  
> Is that possible?


	29. Please remove jewellery before

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I realized there was a gap in the timeline! :O  
> I fixed it up, the twins were eight when they had the accident, otherwise everything stays the same. I messed up with their age and birthdays, please forgive me? ^_^’
> 
> But I still hope (sincerely) that you'll enjoy this chapter... o_o
> 
> See you next week!  
> Holly~♥

There is a carnival in town. Or was it a fair? Clifford had tried to find out what the difference was, but had come out of his research even more confused than before.

Especially since his friends kept using different terms for it as well.

Since Will and Dipper have reached their ‘understanding’ or ‘truce’ or whatever it is, almost three weeks have passed now and Mabel asked if she could invite him along with their usual group this weekend. Last weekend – the first weekend and coincidentally the first two days of September - they had stayed in at the Taylors house and had played board games for hours. There hadn’t been a sleepover this time, but that was just fine.

The important thing was that this weekend, they had an addition to their usual group, and Clifford did not like it in the least. He doesn’t know how his twin feels about it, but he’s acting as though he doesn’t mind. Which is the only reason he’s going to tolerate this, to be honest.

Clifford and Will get ready on Saturday morning – or what Will considers as morning, getting out of bed at 10:00 AM – and get ready to meet the rest of the group, plus Dipper, at the carnival. Last week around this time, they had made up new appointments with their psychiatrists, so they could have the Saturday free to spend with their friends. Doctor Daniels had actually approached them first, since he deemed them healthy enough to only need a bi-annual check-up from now on, so they were essentially officially free from the hospital. Except for the psychiatrists, who – along with the neurologists – were still hesitant to stop their appointments. Since they’d gotten along well in school so far, they’ve also cut down on their tutoring during the weekends and spread that across their timetables. There was, after all, a big gap on Tuesdays between their Health classes and Gym.

That’s why today, they were going out to the carnival-fair-whatever it was to celebrate. They put Mabel into the Triple F’s last weekend and were currently looking for a new name, since _Triple F’s_ doesn’t quite fit anymore.

Which means Cordelia and Dennis, as well as Wirt and Mabel. Plus Dipper.

Clifford is certain Mabel is trying to get her brother to talk more to Will and while he knows she has good intentions, he would rather she didn’t try to push them together any more. They solved their problem and now they are keeping out of each other’s way so they don’t aggravate each other unnecessarily again.

So why is she intervening?

By the time they arrive at the fair, everyone else from their group is already there. Plus Dipper.

Clifford felt his lips twitch, almost becoming a smug grin, when he saw how the brunette was almost hiding behind his twin sister, very clearly uncomfortable with the looks the others kept throwing his way, even before he and Will had come within their line of sight.

“Hey!” Will immediately assaulted Cordelia and Dennis with an overbearing hug, clearly meant to break the ice, before moving on to Mabel and Wirt, the latter enduring it with a slight grimace. “Guys, please enlighten my bro what this-” he gestured at the big assembly of rides and stalls stretching through the streets in front of them, “- _is_ exactly? ‘Cause he won’t shut up about it.”

“I asked your opinion once!” Clifford protested.

“Was that before or after you asked mom and dad?” his twin teased. “Did you look through dad’s dictionaries yet then, or where you still looking for it online?”

“You’re the worst.”

“Thank you!” Will beamed before throwing an arm over his shoulder. “So! What do you do here and for how long does it go?”

“I think it closes around 10 PM?” Dennis offered. “And mostly? You walk. And stand in lines. And then have fun. Before walking again.”

“Sound great! But I also meant how long – as in how far – does it go?” he made a stretching motion with his arms.

“Um, I have a map?”

His gaze darted over to Wirt. “What, on paper?”

Mabel laughed. “I said the same thing to Dipper! He took one with him too.”

“So, we just walk in and…?” Clifford took a step towards the entrance, eager to get started and put as much distance between his twin and Dipper as possible.

This proved to be difficult as they walked through the different stands, seeing as Will kept drifting over to Mabel, and Dipper was basically attached to her other side.

“Ooooh, a funhouse!” Cordelia exclaimed and suddenly, they were in a – thankfully short – line.

“What is it?” Clifford asked at the same time Will said, “That looks awesome!”

Dennis answered for her, telling him that it’s best to experience yourself.

The first experience he got was being assaulted by a water gun embedded in the wall right next to the entrance as he tried crossing the small pool there via the stepping stones. Will laughed until he tripped over a piece of floor right after that. Upon closer inspection, it was covered in little rolls similar to those some cash registers had.

Cordelia was already scooting over them ahead of the two boys and was walking up a set of stairs, which had steps that were moving from side to side. Once they all had climbed up those, Clifford stopped Cordelia and looked her straight in the eye.

“I hate you.” He said in the most serious voice he could muster.

Judging from her face, his sopping wet hair did take away from it a little. Then all of a sudden, she was ripped from his grasp and enveloped by his twin.

“Oh my god, this is amazing Cordy I love you!” he yelled before moving on through the rotating barrel in front of them – dodging Dennis, who was still using it as a sort of hamster wheel - to an area where there were transparent rubber pipes hanging from the ceiling, with what seemed like fairy lights inside them.

He was gone from sight almost immediately.

And after that, Clifford just couldn’t catch up anymore. Cordelia, Dennis and him took a few minutes to find a way through the tube labyrinth – because it _was_ one, the walls were just made of see-through plastic.

He ran into several of those before noticing the mirrors. By running into one.

It seemed running into walls was a new hobby of his. Also getting lost.

Then they found Wirt alone somewhere in the middle of the labyrinth.

“Are you lost too?” Clifford asked, walking over towards him and running into another wall. “Oh, damn it!”

“Are you okay?” came the muffled voice of the brunette from the other side.

“Yes, yes. Did you get lost or do you know the way out?” he asked, irritated. “Because I give up, this is impossible.”

Wirt gave him a very strange look that he had almost no time to identify before the other boy nodded. “Put your hand to the wall on your right, then follow that wall.” He gestured with his own hand, then moved on. “I’ll meet you at the exit!”

After escaping that horrid mirror maze, they stepped outside to a hanging bridge on the second story and just caught the other three disappearing back into the building on the other side. Once there, they discovered a sort of jungle gym-ish net contraption to climb up to the next floor.

“Wait for us!” Cordelia yelled up the nets.

There was no answer, so they just hurried up. On the third floor, they were greeted by the Mabel and Will standing in the middle of a rotating plate, with Will looking mildly dizzy. Dipper was standing on the other side, face buried in his hands.

“What. Are you doing?” Clifford asked, trying to keep his voice even.

“Trying to find out who’ll drop first!” Mabel declared right before Will staggered off the plate and into Dipper, tumbling to the floor.

“Sssoooorry!” he stood up again and leant against the wall, clearly trying to focus on Mabel while Dipper tried to get back on his feet as well. “You- What- How?”

The utter confusion and astonishment on his face when Mabel stepped off the plate – extremely unaffected – and walked a straight line to her brother was too funny not to laugh at.

Clifford burst into laughter. After he crossed the plate himself, he offered an arm to his twin so he wouldn’t stumble into the next wall.

“Ugh.” Will held on for about ten seconds before letting go. “Okay, I think I’m good now.”

“How long were you on that thing?”

“About a minute?” Dipper spoke up. “But he-” he paused for a moment, then straightened his back a little and moved on. “He kinda made a mistake by looking up at the ceiling, and then he closed his eyes when it made him dizzy.”

“Ohh, beginner’s mistake.” Cordelia patted Will on the back. “Happens to everyone at least once.”

“Hey, look.” Wirt stepped on the floor that came next. It was painted like the keys of a piano, and emitted a sound when you stepped on them. Wirt walked up and down, flinching every other step, before grimacing. He put his hands on his hips and shook his head. “ _That_ is not a proper scale _at all_.” At the looks he got from the others, he turned mildly red before defending, “What?! They could have at least _tried_!”

“I think the C is somewhere up here,” Clifford tapped the key he meant and then gestured over to Wirt. “That should be switched with that one.”

The next minute or so was spent between the two of them trying to make a working scale and failing miserably.

“There isn’t even an F! It’s never going to work, because we are _missing_. _Notes_!” Wirt raved before grumbling something under his breath. “Let’s just go.”

They came to a seemingly completely normal pair of stairs.

“I don’t trust these.” Clifford stated, before adding. “Dipper goes first.”

Childish? Perhaps.

But he really didn’t care.

Wirt gave him a disapproving look and moved ahead, intent on going off first. “Stop that.” He told him quietly as he moved past.

The stairs turned out to really be completely normal.

The teens emerged on the roof of the funhouse, which was sadly, also completely normal. Halfway to the end, they found a slide going down the front of the funhouse.

“Slide or whatever-that-is?” Dennis asked and pointed to the guy standing at the end of the path, clearly there to manually operate _something_.

“Let’s check it out!” Mabel suggested.

It was a free fall tower. Or rather, a wall. A small one, not like the giant tower looming further in the depths of the fair.

“Looks safe.” Dennis said. “I’m going this way.”

“You?” Cordelia gasped. “Oh wow, you’re becoming adventurous!”

“Not really, I just hate slides.”

“Huh?” Will raised a brow. “Why?”

“They give some nasty burns if you aren’t careful. And sometimes, even if you’re careful.”

Clifford didn’t know if it was due to Dennis’ comment or not, but they all chose to take the free fall …wall? However, only four people could go at a time, so they split up, which – for a moment - reminded Clifford of the puzzle with the wolves, cats, chickens and the river.

In the end, he and Will rode down together with Cordelia and Dennis after the others.

“That was fun.” Will grinned as he took a sip from his and Clifford’s shared water bottle.

“Well.” Dennis gave a lazy smirk. “It _is_ a funhouse.”

“What next?” Wirt asked.

“Uuuuh-” Mabel turned around in place before gasping loudly. “Carousel!”

Said carousel had little chairs on chains spinning around in the air. Somewhere way too high above him.

“No.”

Clifford shook his head the same time Dipper declined. “I’m not going anywhere near that.”

“Scared of heights too?” Wirt asked.

“No, I just don’t like-” Dipper looked over and gestured at the carousel. “… _That_.”

“Boo, you boys are no fun.” Mabel gave them a thumbs down and blew a raspberry.

“Hey, I’m a boy too, and I’m going.” Will raised his hand. Dennis moved over to the girls and the semi-blonde.

“Great.” Wirt grumbled under his breath.

The three of them ended up watching the others’ backpacks, seeing as they weren’t allowed on the carousel.

They had only stood there for a minute and already Clifford wished he’d have gone on the death machine. He kept his eyes on Will as it lifted up a bit before it started turning.

He watched as it picked up speed, which made the seats at the end of their chains fly outwards.

“I didn’t mean to be an asshole on your first day.”

Clifford almost took his eyes off the carousel, but then decided not to.

“I just. There were several things coming together the wrong way and-”

He carefully kept his face clear of any reaction.

“I-I _am_ sorry! I didn’t know about…. Actually, that’s not even important. I still shouldn’t have acted like that. I was scared.”

That got his attention. Clifford darted a look at him and scoffed. “What did you have to be scared of.”

“Hey.” Wirt frowned at him. “From what I saw, you were as well.”

“I am not scared of my own brother!” he whirled around and hissed at Wirt.

To his surprise, the other only barely flinched. “I never said that.”

His eyes widened and he growled before moving his gaze back up to his brother. If he fell from that height…

He felt queasy.

Dipper continued. “It wasn’t just… what happened then. That just kind of- I know this sound even more awful after how I acted, but it just added to what I was scared of before. You-” he took a deep breath. “You know… _Anna_.”

“Just because you had a bad break up doesn’t give you the right to be a dick.” He repeated Dennis’ statement from earlier this week.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dipper shoot a glance at Wirt, who had taken a sudden interest in the carousel as well. “Yes. Okay. But- No. I mean…urgh.”

There was a short pause before he spoke again.

“Mabel and I both have…really bad taste. I don’t know how else to put it, but… we both just fall for the wrong people, all the time. _And_ ,” he added quickly when Clifford was about to interrupt him. “and while Mabel definitely has had it worse than I had so far, I still had 2 bad relationships with people who had the same sort of vibe about them as your brother.”

“Are you trying to say-”

“I’m _only_ trying to say that I was judging from past experiences, was _scared_ _for_ _my twin_ ,” he emphasised this by shooting look up the carousel, just as Clifford was doing almost the entire time, “since it seemed to me like she might be interested and additionally, he bears an eerie resemblance to this…. _Someone_ I knew and it freaked me out!”

The silence that followed was only broken by the background fair noise and Dippers harsh breathing.

“Come on.” Wirt nudged the older Taylor.

He was conflicted.

He didn’t like this at all, least of all that now the two brunettes knew – or at least suspected – his worries concerning his twin. Because they were worries, not fears. He was not scared by his brother, if anything he was scared for him and oh god that carrousel is high-

 

_There was a strange warmth beside him, which didn’t stem from his twin’s presence there. They had been here for so long, Willards leaves had begun to fall off in some places. His own, however, were still fine._

_He slowly regained his consciousness from the almost meditative state he was in when he rested in this strange place._

_Fire._

_And it was right next to him._

_Right next to him, where there used to be-_

_‘WILLARD!’ he screamed. ‘NO!’_

_The cyan flames licked at the tree beside him, and was quickly burning it to ashes._

_He struggled to get closer, to help his brother, but he couldn’t there were no arms or legs no muscles to move them and his brother was dyingwhywasnobodyhelping-_

 

\- he shook off the nightmare-memory and assured himself that no, Will wasn’t going to fall. See? The carousel is already moving down again.

He was sacred for Will, just like Dipper had been scared for Mabel.

The thought wormed it’s way to the forefront of his mind and refused to leave.

“Fine.” He hissed. “You’re not off the hook yet, don’t get any ideas. But I can at least understand trying to protect your sibling.” Clifford admitted begrudgingly and picked up his twin’s backpack, along with Cordelia’s and Dennis’ before moving towards the exit just when their friend’s feet touched the ground again.

“You missed out!” Will exclaimed when he took his bag back from his twin. “We had a great view.”

“Don’t ever go on this kind of thing again.” Clifford spoke with an edge in his voice.

“Aww, were you worried?” Will teased.

“Don’t act like that, Willy-Billy!” Cordelia grinned before turning to Clifford. “He was scared shitless at first, kept screaming like a banshee.”

Wirt laughed. “I think I heard that! At some point.”

“Did you guys have fun? No killing each other?” Dennis asked.

“We’re fine.” Clifford grumbled.

They moved through the crowd, spotting several game booths that looked like fun -but sadly came with a crowd of twenty people each - and pausing to buy some sweets at one stand before Dennis spotted it.

“That one.” He pointed straight ahead at a rollercoaster, the first they had seen so far.

“Why not another one?” Clifford eyed it sceptically.

“There’s just one.” Wirt was looking through his map. “Except for the horror ride, but that’s smaller and inside.”

This time, he wouldn’t leave Will to go on a ride without him, and so the entire group got in line, only to claim the first two carts of the roller coaster.

Honestly, Clifford didn’t know whether the experience was fun or not. The speed and sudden turns were surprising and the wind whipping around his head and swooshing in his eardrums due to their high speed was thrilling. On the other hand, he couldn’t stop thinking about all that could go wrong.

What if the cart derails?

What if the roller coaster was constructed the wrong way? The whole fair had been built up within the span of two days, after all.

What if he lost his phone here?

What if the beams were low enough to rip Wills arms off when he put them in the air like that?

What if the sharp turns gave them whiplash?

What if-

And so on.

Therefore, while fun, he was also extremely stressed out when he got out of the cart, pulling his suddenly silent twin behind him. Apparently, he had been shocked silent as well.

“You two look stunned.” Mabel observed when she caught sight of them.

“I don’t know how I’m feeling.” Clifford stated. Beside him, Will started to giggle before bursting into loud laughs.

“Hahahaa! I feel amazing! Roller coasters are the best!” he tuned down his laughs again so he was only cackling silently to himself.

“You.” Cordelia shook her head. “You are so strange sometimes.”

And had Clifford been a little less out of it, he might’ve noticed the distinct lack of leather string around his brother’s neck.

Their little troop decided to slowly move back to the edge of the fair. On their way, they stopped by the other roller coaster Wirt had talked about earlier.

“Since you seem to love roller coasters, let’s try this one.” He suggested to Will, who backed it enthusiastically.

The carts only fit four people, so they split up in a similar fashion as the did at the funhouse, with Will and Clifford taking the front row of their cart and Dennis in the back. The moment their cart entered the building, however, Will seemed to change his mind.

“Why is it dark?” he asked, before screeching when the cart began to speed through the darkness.

This, in contrast to the roller coaster before, was _very clearly not fun_.

In addition to all the other worries, there was the most distinct and primal one of all.

It’s dark

 

_You failed him._

 

It’s dark and empty and if Will wasn’t screaming right next to him-

 

_-screaming in pain-_

 

\- no, he’s either having fun or is just scared, he’s not hurt. At least like this, he knew Will was still there, still breathing and alive and-

Light.

“Oh thank god!” Clifford blurted and ripped his hand from their iron grip on the safety restraints before getting off as quickly as possible.

“Never. Again.” Will agreed and leaned against him next to the ride.

“Woah, are you guys okay?” Mabel came over first.

“It was _dark_!” Clifford stated in an accusing tone.

“Well, yeah.” Wirt said. “Most horror coasters are.”

“I couldn’t _see_!” Will blurted before whispering in a terrified tone. “That was awful, why does such an abomination even exist, who made this death machine-”

The rest of their group shared a look before pulling them away from the ride and to a more quiet corner nearby. There, they spread out their jackets and sat down, pulling the panicking twin’s down as well.

“You look like you desperately need a break.” Dennis stated and rummaged through a backpack, which Clifford belatedly recognized as his, before handing them the by now half full water bottle.

Clifford took a sip before offering the bottle to Will. He stared at it like it was some sort of test, before he pretty much emptied the thing over his face.

“Oddly enough, I feel like doing that too.” Clifford hummed and looked through his bag for the other, full bottle. As he was doing so, Will buried his head in his hands.

“Don’t.” Will whined. “It got in my eye and now everything is awful!” Suddenly he darted up. “Ew.” He grimaced. “Correction, it’s in both. Ew, ew, ew!” he rubbed at his right eye.

“What happened back there?” Dipper asked in a sceptical tone that Clifford _really_ didn’t appreciate right now, truce or no.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Nyctophobia.” Will answered at the same time.

“Nycto-wha?” Cordy tilted her head.

“Fear of the darkness.” Dennis explained. “I knew that Clifford had it to some degree, but you too?”

“I guess.” Will mumbled and kept rubbing at his eyes.

They both took a while to calm down again, so their party decided to make it a lunch break. As they all dug into their sandwiches, Dennis suddenly spoke up.

“By the way, Will, where did you put your necklace?”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “What?”

“It’s not there. Did you put it away somewhere?”

There must have been something in Wills expression, as Cordelia joined in.

“Did you lose it somewhere?! It might’ve slipped off during one of the rides!” she worried.

“Oh, nevermind, it’s not important.” Will waved it off and kept munching on his granola bar.

Clifford assumed he had a look that was as gobsmacked as the one he saw on Mabel that moment. For a moment he met eyes with the girl and she looked…

Worried.

At the very least.

He turned to Will. “Willard, you love that necklace.”

His twin seemed to be looking for words. “Yeah. But it would be pointless to look for it now, right? And we can always get a new one next time we go to that stone shop.”

Clifford nodded slowly and sighed. His twin was right, if he really lost it on the roller coaster, it could be anywhere. “You’re right. We can get a new one on Monday.”

Mabel made a noise that was somewhere between inquiring and choking, before she took a big bite of her sandwich and directed her gaze to a shooting stand nearby. “W-we could go check the stand next.” She suggested once she’d finished chewing. “Perhaps the crowds are a little smaller now.”

It turned out that they were. On their way down the streets, they saw a lot of parents taking breaks with their children, which filled the sides of the roads, but emptied out the space in front of the different booths. At their first stop, Wirt and Mabel tried their hand at the shooting stand, where they were each handed a fake rifle to shoot at targets with.

Mabel came just one point short of winning a prize, while Wirt hit every target he shot at.

“Wow!” Mabel exclaimed. “You are ridiculously good at this!”

“Uh, thank you I guess?” he looked up at the prizes. “Football or elephant?” he mumbled. Then he smiled softly and asked for the plushie.

“Great choice!” Mabel grinned.

“It’s for my brother.” He smiled back and put the toy into his backpack as Mabel cooed.

“Awwww, that’s so sweet!”

They moved on, coming across a stand that was just a bunch of claw machines bunched together – Will and Mabel spent ten minutes trying to get a toy out of one of them, while Clifford got lucky and just got one on his first try.

As he helped Will put his plushie, some colourful sheep that had the same colour scheme as Fluffmaggedon, as well as really sparkly eyes, into his backpack, Will held on to Clifford’s win. It was a rather simple baby penguin plush, no sparkles or neon colours, all natural.

“I don’t know which of yours is cuter.” Mabel hummed, hugging her cat plush to her chest. “I hope you’ll treat them right!” she suddenly threatened. “There are lots of fair plushies that get mistreated just because their owners didn’t really want them.”

“Don’t worry.” Clifford smiled at her antics. “I’m sure that one will get along just fine with Fluffmaggedon.” He pointed to Wills rainbow sheep.

“That’s what you called the poor alpaca?” Cordelia raised her brows at the younger Taylor.

“It’s a _llama_!” Will protested.

“Of course.” Clifford heard Dipper grumble under his breath. “He called a llama fluffmaggedon, because why not. Fucking hell, the universe hates me.”

Clifford would have to agree, since Dipper ended up not winning a single game, even though he tried both the claw and later on the raffle stand where they each bought ten tickets.

You had to collect certain colours to get a certain type of prize, and the more points you had on your tickets of the same colour, the better the prizes.

Dipper managed to get every colour, but not enough points to win anything in any category, so he gave them to Cordelia, just as Dennis did with his remaining tickets after getting himself a deck of cards.

“I have an idea for this.” He explained when he saw Clifford’s sceptical look. Then he leaned closer and whispered. “You know card pyramids?”

Clifford nodded.

“I’m just gonna glue these together and make a statue for my room.” He chuckled.

Clifford shook his head at him, then a bunch of raffle tickets were shoved in his face.

“You can have ‘em.” Will said and once he took them from his twin, the younger wandered off to stand at the side of the stand, away from their troop.

“What’s up with him?” Dennis asked. Apparently, Clifford wasn’t the only one who thought Will was acting strange. Usually, he wouldn’t have just given his tickets away, especially since these seemed to be actually rather good.

“I think it’s about the stone.” It was his best guess “He’s trying to not let it affect him, but he really liked it.”

He went up to check out the prizes, where Cordelia and Wirt were still undecided.

“Hey, Clifford what have you got for red?”

“Erm.” He checked his tickets. “150?”

“I got 25 for red.” Wirt offered.

“I got 1325, I need 1500 for the big tiger, can I trade you something for these?”

“You can have them.” Clifford handed them over.

“Nuh-uh mister. What’s you guys’ highest colour?”

“Let’s see… Purple, 975 points.” He checked again.

“Green, 800.” Wirt added.

“I have a 50 for green and 100 for purple.” Cordelia offered “What’s your second highest, Clifford?”

“Cordelia, this really isn’t-”

“Ahem.”

He sighed and looked. “Blue, 225.”

“I got another 75 for that.” She finally took the tickets he offered and gave him the blue and purple ones, before doing the same with Wirt. “Heehee.” She beamed before waving to the owner of the stand and running off.

“S-so.” Wirt looked over to his tickets. “Will gave you his?”

“Yes. That isn’t like him at all. I think I’ll get something for him.”

“That’s a nice thought. Hey, uh, do you mind trading again?”

“I have way too many of these, if you want some, you can have them.” Clifford chuckled. “You need green, right? I got a 250 for that.”

“….I was about to say no, because I don’t have blue or purple.”

“Do you have black?”

“I got a 25, yeah.”

“If you want to repay me that badly, I can take that?” he offered. It still felt odd, since he really didn’t mind.

After finally getting some prizes, the two re-joined with their group and moved on. Towards the end of the stands, Mabel discovered one that they had missed before.

“Oh my gosh, guys, let’s get some tattoos!”

“What?” Clifford looked to where she pointed. There was a stand where you could get a tattoo airbrushed on. “The sign says it lasts for a week.” He said.

“I know right? That’s way longer than the ones you put on with water.”

That was supposed to be a criticism, but alright.

Mabel and Cordelia both got one, which took about five minutes each.

“And if you don’t wash it with soap, it stays longer!” the guy doing the tattoos told them before waving goodbye.

“These are great.” Cordelia looked down at the salamander on her upper arm. Mabel had gotten a cat in the same spot.

They stopped at the point where they had entered the fair.

“Well.” Mabel put her hands on her hips. “That was fun!”

A mumble of agreement went through their group, before Cordy and Mabel pulled all into a group hug. Will joined in too, but a little slower than he usually did.

Clifford would have to have a talk with him later.

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work that way. Once they had bid their goodbyes and headed home, Will and Cordelia chatted the whole way, and when they entered their house, he rushed upstairs before Clifford could even open his mouth.

Later, he came downstairs with one of the other two stones around his neck. It was the one Clifford got him this Monday, an atacamite that was a dark green, almost black colour that had flecks of slightly brighter greens and blues spread across its surface. Willard had discarded it a day after he got it, stating that it ‘distracted him’ and he swore it made him hallucinate.

Clifford didn’t really believe the latter, but the lady had said something about clairvoyance… But that sort of thing was nonsense, it was already ridiculous that these stones did anything at all, much less grant some sort of future vision.

At the end of the day, he didn’t really get to talk to Will before going to bed. He would have to try tomorrow and perhaps get him a new aquamarine as consolation.

 

\---------------------

__

**_ Saturday, 8.9.18 _ **

__

**Today was the best day I’ve had since waking up!**

\------------------

 

**He smirked wryly and put away the journal in the drawer of** Willard’s **nightstand.**

**Sure, this was great, but it still sucked that he was stuck.** He felt his face twist into a frown. **If he was able to leave now, he would do so without a care about the mind he left crumbling behind him, but he knew it wasn’t the only incomplete one.**

**And not the only one that would get destroyed if he left.**

**‘Whatever.’ He took the newest stone from its current place around his neck with two fingers, regarding it closely.**

**It was the reason why he hadn’t been kicked back down immediately like the first time he tried this.** Clifford had meant well, **trying to get his dear brother to remember. But there was much more this stone was good for.**

**Grinning, he** put it back where it belonged and leaned back. Willard **had messed up a lot by telling all** his friends **about his ‘personality problem’ but perhaps….**

**“Let’s see what I can get away with.”**

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have something to say, please do! Reviews are like energy drinks for my writing :D


	30. Soul of a Loved One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Thank you all for the nice comments ♥  
> It's always nice to see people tell me what they think.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter and to see you next week!
> 
> Holly~♥

“Perhaps he got it from me.” Dennis suggested.

It was Monday, their second break of the day and Clifford was worried. Sure, he was worried often, but today something was different.

Their group had conglomerated around one of the tennis tables once more, now seven people in total. Or at least, they would have been seven, if Will hadn’t gotten sick this morning.

“You were sick three weeks ago, Dennis, I’m sure he didn’t get it from you.” Cordelia assured the boy.

And Clifford wasn’t even certain that Will was sick in the first place. All Sunday, he seemed fine, the few times he saw his twin. Will had pretty much locked himself in his room again, only brushing him off by telling him he was fine and needed some time alone.

“Maybe he’s still upset about the stone.” Clifford mused. “I don’t think he’s actually sick.”

“Didn’t you want to get a new one today?” Mabel asked.

“Yes, but I can’t really do that without him.” As he said it, it actually sounded a little daft. “Or perhaps I should?”

“Totally!” Mabel backed this. “Can I come along too? I wanted to get a stone as well.”

“Really?” Dipper shot her a look.

“You wanna come along too? They're supposed to be… magic.” She stage-whispered the last word and splayed her fingers apart dramatically.

“…no, thanks. I have homework.”

Therefore, Mabel and Clifford agreed to meet after school and go alone. After their respective Writing and Drawing classes, they met at the school gates, bid goodbye to Wirt and Dipper, then walked off on Clifford and Will’s usual way home.

“Down there.” Clifford led Mabel up to the shop.

“It looks so mysterious!” she exclaimed. “Hi!” she greeted the old lady.

“Hello. I see you brought a friend.” She smirked at Clifford.

“Yes. I’m actually looking for another aquamarine, so I’ll be over there.” he got straight to the point of his visit.

“That’s quite alright.” She turned to Mabel, “Say, dear, are you by any chance a Virgo?”

“Oh my gosh, I am! Are you psychic?”

While Mabel and the lady had a chat, Clifford looked through the stone assortment, easily finding what he looked for due to the alphabetical order of the stone boxes.

He had just picked out an aquamarine that was roughly the same shape and size as the one Will had before, when Mabel sidled up next to him.

“She said I should get a sardonyx.” She looked down. “What’s that look like?”

He pointed over at the box of stones she was looking for.

“Oh, they’re pretty!” she smiled and rummaged through the box.

This time, he also bought a necklace for the stone immediately, then the two left the store.

“Hey?” Mabel asked when they walked up the street again. “Can I come with you?”

“What? Why?”

“I just… I dunno?” she evaded his questioning look. “I have the time, I kinda wanna check on Will and… yeah.”

He eyed her for another moment before shrugging. “If you want to, sure.”

“Thanks.” She smiled thankfully. “You know, I lived here my whole life, but I’ve never seen that shop.”

“Perhaps it opened recently?”

She hummed. “I guess you’re right.”

When they reached his house, he let her in first before coming inside and getting his shoes off. Today had been warm enough to not need a jacket.

“I’m going to give this to Will real quick, alright?” he asked before rushing up the stairs, Mabel still struggling with her shoelaces.

He knocked on Will’s door. “Hey, I’m back. Can I come in?”

There was shuffling on the other side, then Will’s irritated voice rang out. “Urgh. Fine.”

Clifford opened the door and entered his sibling's room.

“Are you feeling better?”

Will was still buried under his sheets, but Clifford noticed a couple of small things in the room – pens, a book, clothes on the floor - that were placed differently than when he left this morning.

“M-mmh.” Will denied and turned to face him. He did _sort of_ look tired enough to classify as ‘sick’.

“I brought something.” He took the stone out of his pocket. Wills reaction to that took him completely off guard.

The moment he saw the stone, Wills face contorted into a disgusted look. “Oh for- I don’t care about that stupid stone!” he protested. “I got a replacement, I’m not upset and I don’t want that. Just- I don’t know bring it back or whatever. I don’t need your help.”

That hurt a lot. That Will didn’t care for the stone was fine, but now he was actually mad that Clifford went and got him a new one? Which okay, that was not nice, but…

Will did not need his help.

That.

That was… That actually really, physically hurt. Clifford glared, his eyes burning. “Okay. Fine. You…” he couldn’t find any word that he would actually be able to say, so he just shook his head and left the room as quickly as possible, slamming the door behind him and leaning back against it, breathing choppy from holding back the tears.

“Um.”

He startled.

Mabel had apparently come upstairs and was waiting right in front of him.

“Are you okay?” she put a hand on his shoulder, seeing if it was okay before pulling him into a short hug.

They stood there for a short while, until Clifford had composed himself again. He hadn’t cried and hadn’t made any noise except his breathing, but he still rubbed his palms over his eyes.

“Can I try?” Mabel held her hand out. It took him a moment to understand what she meant, then he shrugged and gave her the stone.

“Sure.” He felt numb. “Go ahead. He won’t take it. I’ll-” he took a breath. “I’ll be over there.” He made a vague gesture to the stairs, then headed down to his room to deal with his emotions alone.

 

\---------------------------------

 

**Another knock on the door.**

**“I said I don’t want it, now leave me alone!” he called.**

**He still heard the door open from his place under the sheets.**

“Will?”

**He sat up immediately at the female voice.**

And stared.

**‘It’s really too bad that the right eye is broken, that small connection to the other half is irritating as all hell.’ He mused.**

**Still, he needed to at least see _something._**

“Why did you hurt Clifford? That isn’t like you at all.” Mabel asked.

He spotted the stone in her hand. **Damn it, why wouldn’t they just leave him alone?!**

**He hadn’t answered her yet.**

She reached out with the stone in her hand **and he immediately bolted from his bed.**

**“I said, I don’t want it!” he snarled.**

She stared at him for a moment before taking a deep breath. “Are you scared of it?”

**‘Seeing as it will make my life incredibly hard, yes.’**

**“Of course not.”**

**Judging from her face, he answered a second too slow.**

“I looked up what an aquamarine does, you know. And all the other stones you got from Clifford.” She held the stone in front of her like some sort of protective charm **– which really, it would be if he could just _leave_ – and spoke once more.** “You know, perhaps Dipper’s paranoia really is rubbing off on me, but I’m not making the same mistake twice, Bill.”

**‘That’s it! Oh thank the stars, a _name_! That’s what it _was_!’**

**Of all the missing things, the name thing had been one of the more frustrating, but he had it back!**

**The utter joy must have shown on his face, because all of the sudden,** Mabel lunged forwards **,** trying to get the stone somewhere on his skin.

 **“Eeek!” Bill quickly jumped out of the way, then used his leg to keep her away from any exposed skin – namely his arms and face- only** keeping his balance by leaning against the wall. **“Woah there, chill, what’s wrong with you?!”**

“What’s wrong with you, huh?!” she accused, a defiant tilt to her head and eyes blazing. “It’s just a stone, why are you freaking out so much?!”

**‘Why does she have to be so loud?’**

‘What if someone hears?’

**Nope. Close that off please, no emotion needed over here, thank you _very_ much.**

**“Be quiet and get that thing away from me.” He hissed.** Keeping his balance **while still keeping her away and the connection to Will closed to anything he didn’t _need_ was getting increasingly harder. “Oh fuck it, just stop that and I’ll talk!” He grumbled and ** gave her push with his foot that made her fall on her butt.

“What?!” she shot him an incredulous look.

 **“And stop shouting or my- Clifford will come over and you’ll go home without-… whatever it is you’re here for.” He shook his head at the accidental slip of** brotherly love. **Ew.**

Mabel stood up quickly and took a few steps back. “I’m here to get you out of Willard, he’s a nice guy who doesn’t deserve any of your shit.”

**Bill groaned.**

**“If it wouldn’t kill us both, I would have been gone already.” He grumbled.**

“I don’t believe you.” She said.

**“Listen,” he tried to convince her. “that thing you have there? Only really keeps me at bay while I’m weakened, like after the whole debacle that first Monday. Honestly, I didn’t expect the kid to kick me to the curb that quickly.”**

**A little too bold a lie, perhaps, for how he kept running away from her while she was holding that.**

**“It would just burn like hell now. Doesn’t do much else.”**

**A little better.**

She still didn’t look convinced. “I want to talk to Willard. I know he’s still there. You must have been there for a long time too, since he said he’s been having problems since he woke up from his coma, so he must be in the same place you were in before, right?”

**‘Holy cow, she’s good! Nobody ever say that Shooting Start is stupid.’ He grinned and actually thought about it. ‘If I can just convince her to keep her mouth shut about this, I won’t have to worry about a thing. Giving Will the reigns now won’t keep me from taking them back later. Poor disoriented kid probably won’t even know it’s Monday already. Perhaps he might even convince her for me that everything is good?’**

**He really should probably have done that from the beginning.**

**‘Apparently, I can’t get away with much. Urgh, I can’t even come up with a good plan anymore.’ Mentally, he reached out to where Will had hoarded all the** intuition **and** creativity **for himself, trying desperately to** come up with something **that wouldn’t result in their death.**

**Because that was definitely the truth. They were stuck together for however long this body was going to live, unless Bill found a way to stabilize what remained of himself so he could leave it.**

**Willard had only been meant as a lifeboat, a lucky strike that saved him from non-existence after he’d hung so long onto a familiar mind, which was too shielded to be taken before he disappeared completely.**

**He shook off the thought of that horrifying debacle.**

“So?” Mabel had apparently had enough of waiting.

**“I have a… suggestion.” He worded it carefully, knowing that she would never go for an actual Deal.**

“I’m not making any Deals with you!” she glared.

**“I know, that’s why I’m not suggesting one.” He growled. “Just put that thing away.”**

“No. First I want to talk to Willard.”

**“…Fine.” Bill shot her one last glare before retreating a _small_ bit. He wasn’t giving Will everything back, but he wasn’t completely gone either. Just enough to have a proper talk.**

For some reason, he was in his room.  “Uh?” he looked at Mabel, who stared at him like he was trying to eat her, holding his aquamarine necklace for some reason. He took a step towards her. “Is everything alright?”

The way she stumbled back, along with the look on her face – almost identical to the way she looked at him the first day after he -

He blanched and looked around again. They had just been getting off a roller coaster, this didn’t make any sense. Did it happen again?

“If you are just messing with me…” Mabel said in a threatening voice.

“Huh? What?” he raised his hands and backed away. “I-I don’t- why are you in my room? Why am _I_ in my room, for that matter? Weren’t we just-”

**“It’s Monday.”**

He flinched and grabbed at his neck. IF Mabel was holding his necklace.

**‘That isn’t your necklace, it’s a replacement. And if you try to take it, you’ll go back where you just came from and you can stay there for the rest of your life.’**

‘Where I just-?’ he wracked his brain, trying to figure out what the other meant and why he was being threatened by two people at once all of a sudden. ‘Aren’t you supposed to protect me?!’

**‘I _am_ protective, sure. Of myself and what’s mine. Your just lucky I consider you as the latter.’**

Will bristled. “What the fuck?”

“Willard?” Mabel spoke up, reminding him that she was still there too. “Are you Willard now?”

He stared for a long moment, then hung his head. “Yes. I don’t know what’s going on, why is everyone threatening me?” he clasped his hands over his head.

“He’s threatening you?!” she sounded angry. “Oi, Bill, cut that out, or you’ll get the stone!”

 **“Fuck off!” he hissed and** backed away along the wall.

“What?!” Will stumbled and fell on his bed. “What is going on?!”

“Your other personality is actually a demon. Sorry.” Mabel said in a serious tone.

Will would have laughed if-

**“Oh, burn in hell, Shooting Star.” Bill grumbled.**

“Ah.” He made. Then again, the demon thing would explain a couple of things.

“And stop interrupting this conversation, I can barely tell who’s talking.” Mabel chided.

“I can’t do anything against that!” Will exclaimed. “I just-! He just moved my body, without my-… I don’t know, I just didn’t do that!”

**“Here.” Bill raised his right hand, since it was the easier of the two for him to control. “This is Bill.”**

**‘Just raise your left if you talk.’ He told Will.**

Will shakily raised his arm. “Is this supposed to help?”

“It does make it easier for me, but you aren’t supposed to be here at all, Bill!” she frowned. “How are you even alive in the first place?!”

“Who are you talking to now?” Will asked, **tired** and confused.

“I was trying to talk to Willard, but apparently now I’m also talking to Bill, who is the demon I was talking about.”

**“We can all have a civil conversation if you put away the stone.”**

Mabel stared at him long and hard before putting on the necklace herself. “Why and how are you still alive?”

Will braced himself for the next time his mouth would move without his input, but nothing came.

“I don’t think he’s going to answer.” He whispered.

‘We share a body I can still hear you, you know?’

“Can somebody just tell me what’s going on?” he belatedly lifted his left hand, “I can barely make sense of the demon thing, it would explain some things, otherwise I wouldn’t even think about believing that. But there are some other things I would like to know, like: Why do you think he should be dead?” he directed at Mabel, “How do you know each other, which also leads to: How did you know he was inside of _me_?”

**His right hand went up. “That last one's easy, you basically told her.”**

“Huh?” He raised his other hand a second after blurting that. “When?”

“That is a little less confusing.” She made a face. “Thanks, I guess. And yeah, you told me about the DID, which I thought was …kinda not right? Also, a bunch of small things sort of combined in a way that just-“ she looked for words, but didn’t seem to find the right ones. “…So I looked it up. Both the DID thing and the stones, but actually I was hoping you would keep telling me I’m crazy just now. It was more of a hunch, I didn’t really think I’d be right about this. I did like having Willard as a friend.”

Will raised his hand, desperate to set this right. “Do you not want to be friends anymore because of this? Um, you know- I get why you do, but-… I am still here, you know? And I actually _do_ prefer being called Will? It’s shorter and I get why you think I should go by my full name, but… I don’t?”

**“Your _somewhat_ right, but that wasn’t on purpose, something must have spilt over at the beginning there, but it is _mostly_ his choice.”**

“Alright.” She made a face like she bit into a lemon. “And… I admit it, I was sort of waiting for you to slip up? Like you did that first day? Because if you actually survived and came back for us, you would do something. But then you didn’t and it really threw me off. I guess now I get why Dipper gets so coo-coo when something doesn’t add up.” She huffed. “ Also, I’m still not convinced he isn’t using you to play this all out like you actually have any control over what you do.” She studied him sceptically.

 **“…I** don’t **know** how **to** prove **that.”**

Neither raised a hand.

**‘This is ridiculous.’**

‘I literally just want to know what’s going on.’ At this point, Will didn’t even care much that there was apparently one half of him that was a demon, if up until now, he hadn’t done anything.

**‘Seriously?’**

‘I mean, I guess you must be the reason I didn’t flunk all these tests they put us through at the beginning right? If you’re the reason I can live a life outside of a mental hospital, then fine by me.’

A headache he didn’t even realize he had was suddenly gone.

**Bill breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Apparently.’**

‘What was that?’

**He thought for a moment before answering honestly. It wouldn’t do if he ruined this strange companionship now. ‘…That was me compromising. You said you’re fine sharing, so that’s what I’m doing. Since you aren’t trying to expel me anymore-’**

‘When did I do that?’

**‘-it seems you weren’t lying. The first time I did this, you tried to push me out and if it wasn’t for me holding on, we would have both died on your first day of school.’**

‘So you really can’t leave?’

“You could, I dunno, just leave?”

**“I told you, that would kill both of us.”**

“And I just told him I’m fine with sharing.”

“No, no no!” Mabel frowned. “You’re just trying to mess with me so you can do whatever you want, but I’m not having that!”

‘She’s not listening.’ Will grumbled.

**‘If you play along, I could just threaten our way out of this.’**

‘What? No, why do you think that would be a good idea?’

**‘Because that’s what she expects? She won’t leave us alone otherwise.’**

‘….I could just take the stone.’

**‘Don’t you dare!’ Bill bristled.**

‘And take it off once she’s gone.’

**‘…’**

**The demon tried to find any trace of deception in the other's emotions, but… there simply wasn’t any. Begrudgingly, he held out his hand towards the girl.**

**“I’ll take the damn stone.”**

Mabel slowly took it off, then carefully handed it over.

 **The stone made contact with his skin and** all of a sudden, it was eerily silent in Will’s head. “Ew.” He grimaced and quickly held the stone so it was only dangling from its string, not touching his skin. Catching Mabel’s frown, he sighed and put it around his neck, careful to keep it over his shirt. At least this way, he would still be able to chat with his other- with Bill. It was strange that he had his own name now.

**‘You have no idea, I spent the last few years without it.’**

‘How long were you in my mind?’

**‘Longer than I intended, thanks to you brother.’**

‘What do you mean?’

**‘I’m sure you can ask him soon. From what he’s told us so far, he’ll probably remember it soon.’**

“Willard?” Mabel tried to get his attention.

He sighed, but managed a weak smile. “Still Will. That was actually me talking, you know.”

She smiled back, though clearly still hesitant. “Sorry, I needed to make sure.”

There was a heavy silence hanging in the air.

“Are you going to tell someone about this?” he asked her. “Because, I really don’t think he can do anything.”

**‘Hey!’**

The protest made him give a short and quiet laugh.

“I really should. And you really shouldn’t trust him, I bet he’s just acting all weak and helpless.”

Will looked her in the eyes and he could see that she wouldn’t back down. He sighed and nodded. “Fine.” He dropped the stone under his shirt muffling the protesting voice in the back of his head. “I’m not going to take it off again.” Thinking for a moment, he added. “And I guess I won’t go on roller coasters anymore either.”

“Good.” She seemed to relax again. “I still should tell _someone_ at least…” the girl made a face that indicated she was thinking hard about something.

Thinking fast he let himself take a defeated position on the bed. “Please don’t? I’ll just… Depending on who you tell, I bet I won’t end up in a good place. And Clifford would… he wouldn’t do well.”

Mabel looked even more torn than before and Will continued.

“I mean, I’m almost certain I wouldn’t even be able to go to school, there is no way I could’ve passed the tests to get in on my own. That was all … this guy.” He waved his right hand through the air as an indication. “And you said you wanted to get him to leave, right? I can promise you I would have to go back to elementary school, if not some mental hospital.”

“Fine!” she blurted. “I get it! I won’t tell. Except-”

“-if I do something bad. That’s fine. I get that.” He tilted his head. “I just hope you don’t mean bad as in tossing garbage on the street or taking the last piece of candy in a bowl, ‘cause I think that might happen at some point.”

The joke got a small chortle out of her, but then her face got serious again and she nodded. Moving towards the door, she said: “I’m going to your brother now, and you… should apologize. Bill made him cry.”

He felt his eye twitch as he followed her. ‘You know, just for that I’m thinking of actually keeping the stone on.’

 

\-----------------------------------------

 

Clifford laid curled up under his sheets, eyes still red from the crying he did earlier, after Mabel left to go home.

When she had emerged from his twin’s room, Will had come along. Clifford had been sitting in the kitchen, nursing a cup of calming tea and trying not to cry again. Will had apologized for being mean to him and said some other stuff that he didn’t really care for that moment, instead enveloping him in a tight hug. Mabel had quickly excused herself then and almost fled from the house.

It was really nice of her to give them some room to talk it out. When they moved their talk to Clifford’s room, he had noticed Will was wearing the necklace now, the new one that he got for him. He immediately hugged him again.

Despite them fixing things up again, something was still up with Will. When they had gotten ready for bed earlier, he looked as if he had something on his mind. When Clifford had asked what was wrong, Will asked him something strange.

 

_“What do you think-…. What happens to us when we die? Not to our bodies, but to our souls?”_

 

He had said he never thought about it, which didn’t seem to help his brother much. They just ended up hugging once more before heading to bed.

Except.

Now he _was_ thinking about it. And once he allowed the thoughts to come, Clifford had one he was surprised he didn’t have sooner.

‘If there really is a life after death, wouldn’t a near-death experience allow a person to experience some of it? And if that is the case did Wil and I too? And Cordelia.’ He thought back to the story of she told, that was so close to the dreams he had and -

 

_‘I found the solution.’_

_‘What?’ Cliff startled. They’d been standing here for weeks now, and while he’d been scared that they would starve to death, he soon found that they were both just fine. Except it was boring, and the people walking past never talked to them. So they really only talked to each other._

_‘We’re dead!’ Willard stated. ‘This is the afterlife!’_

_After a prolonged silence, Cliff sighed. ‘The afterlife sucks. At least Cordelia was still a human.’_

_‘…Perhaps she isn’t really dead!’ Willard said in a hopeful tone. ‘I’m sure only people who are really dead become trees, so the almost dead can get home.’_

 

\- alright, that was possible too, but what about the –

 

_Fire everywhere, climbing up the wood and eating it up and nobody was here they were both going to die –_

_“I can help you.” A voice sounded, coming from everywhere at once, echoing._

_‘Help us!’ Cliff screamed, knowing that they wouldn’t hear. Noone who walked past ever did._

_“I am not walking past, dear child.” Something scratched at the base of his roots, and then he felt a small creature slowly beginning to climb up. "How can I help?"  
_

 

\- ones with Wirt in them? He was clearly still alive.

And these fake – even though they perhaps weren’t? – memories did _not_ help in the least right now!

He reached for his phone to check the time. It was 11:whatever PM, and he groaned, quickly opening up his music app and playing some of the meditative music he bought at the stone shop two weeks ago. It did wonders in helping him sleep when these flashbacks were mucking up his head.

As the sounds of flowing water and wind chimes filled the room, he slowly relaxed and began to drift off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS: I used to be a little like Mabel as a kid and it rarely turned out great for me, so I kind of turned into more of a Dipper like person.   
> Just if anyone wants to protest Mabel acting OOC, that's my reasoning.
> 
> See you next week! :D


	31. They say you die twice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I am sure some of you are curious about the situation with Will and Bill, so have some of their newly discovered interactions :D  
> There will be an adjustment phase there, but if you have any questions, ask away, I'll make sure to answer them in the next chapter. It's a little hard to see the missing pieces when you have the whole picture in your head, and I'm trying to do my best to put this mess into words.
> 
> Thank you all for reading and reviweing, have a nice Sunday and I'll see you next week!  
> Have fun reading! 
> 
> Holly~♥

It was Tuesday morning, which meant they had to go to school. Especially since Will was actually fine.

‘Why did mom ask if I was already feeling better?’

**‘I may have pretended to be sick yesterday.’**

Will sighed and headed upstairs to get ready for the day. ‘What else did I miss?’ he asked.

**Bill shrugged. ‘Nothing much, I locked myself in your room on Sunday and otherwise, that necklace isn’t your old one, but you already know that.’ He gestured to the stone lying on his desk.**

Will had taken it off immediately after his talk with Clifford, since he’d only worn it over his shirt at the time to show his twin that his attempt to help really did matter to him. Sadly **he would have to wear it to school, otherwise Shooting Star would flip.**

‘Why do you call her that? And again, how do you know her?’

**‘It’s a long story. Perhaps I’ll tell it sometime later.’ He evaded.**

Will took the stone by its string and stuffed it into his pocket, ignoring the short jolt of emptiness he felt when his fingers made contact with the stone. They really needed to find a way around that.

**‘For now, just don't charge it.’ Bill suggested with a look towards the almost-empty incense. ‘The stone is new, so apart from the mild charging it got in the store, it shouldn’t work for long.’**

“Will, hurry up, we need to get going!” Clifford called up the stairs.

“Coming!”

He shouldered his backpack and **slid down the railing of the staircase.**

‘Oh? I never realized that.’ Will mused. But since the staircase coiled down clockwise, he would have to use his **right hand** to slide down. ‘I thought I did that already when I was a kid?’

**‘…it’s about as much fun as I can get right now.’ Bill grumbled, irritated.**

‘How exactly do we make this work?’ he asked when they got into the car with Clifford and Annie. ‘The whole sharing-a-body-thing?’

**‘It’s already working on its own.’ He paused and thought for a second. ‘Although, it would be great if you could stop sending over your feelings. It’s distracting.’**

‘I’m doing that?’ his brow furrowed. ‘How?’

**‘Why do you think I can use the right hand easier than the left?’ He sent over a mental image of a brain from the top.**

Will thought about it for a moment before recalling the lessons they’d had on brain halves, along with a ridiculously detailed image of one that his mind quickly turned into a more stylised and simple assortment of shapes. That was far easier to think about than all those little details.

**‘…Exactly.’**

**Having observed that process, he felt like they might run into some communication problems sooner or later if he didn’t open the connection more. But that would mean getting rid of all these pesky feelings would be near impossible. He groaned.**

‘What?’

**‘Urgh.’ He groaned again. ‘You’re just… we each occupy one half of your brain, got that?’**

Will resisted the urge to nod to no one. His other- Bill should be able to get that he understood anyways.

‘Right?’

**‘Yes.’**

‘How come you know everything I think and feel, while I only get what you say from you?’

**‘Oh, you’re getting much more than you think.’ For a second he contemplated whether to explain it or not. Then he sighed. It would be best not to ruin the trust he had right now by lying or evading.**

**‘Like I said, each of us has one half of your brain, which means there is a connection there that allows each of us to send and take things to and from the other side.’**

‘So, if your hand is the right one, you got the left brain? All work, no fun?’ Will smirked.

**‘Yes, but I am using said connection to have fun via your half, just as you’re using it to be able to write with our left hand.’**

‘So, what- you don’t have feelings at all without taking them from me?’ He was pretty sure he was still feeling things.

**‘You are, kid. I’m just partaking in your ability to feel.’ He didn’t address the other half of that question. Some things had been less important to hold on to while…**

**He shook his head.**

**‘Back to your original question: while both of us take some things, we can also give them freely. Like you are doing with the rest of your feelings. You know, those that I really could do without. As well as several other things that aren’t as annoying, but you are definitely not holding anything back, so yeah, of course I know everything you think and feel, you’re not exactly keeping that private.’**

Annie drove up to the school and held near the gates. “Alright, have a good day.”

The boys said their goodbyes and watched her drive off before heading over to the school gates.

“See you later. Don’t space out like this in class.” Clifford scolded him good-naturedly before their paths split.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, you’re right!” he chuckled. “Just lost in thought.”

As he headed to his French class, he sent a silent apology to Bill and fumbled for the aquamarine, putting it under his shirt. He and Mabel had French together, so it she might catch him putting it on if he did it any later.

 

\------------------------

 

_Don’t space out like this in class._

It had really been more a reminder for himself than for Will. He had barely noticed his twin’s absent look out of the corner of his eyes as he was lost in the second flashback today.

They were coming far more frequently by now, in comparison to a few weeks ago when it would be surprising if he had two within a week.

And now he could have up to five in a single day.

Clifford was glad that he – sort of – had an inkling of what those dream-memories might be, the completely normal memories still mixed in. The one he just had was one of those normal ones, which just showed him how Will came to keep him company during a thunderstorm. It was interesting to him how in the memory, he was terrified of the loud noise, while still knowing that now the noise wouldn’t bother him much.

He really did like the normal memories more than the maybe-life-after-death ones.

They were far easier to put on a timeline and far easier to understand.

Then again, they all just belonged into the timeframe ‘before the accident’, so perhaps that was the reason why they seemed easier to sort through.

And then there was Wirt.

Who was very much alive, despite also appearing in said memories. Only once or twice, and not as much as that old man – he still had no idea what the deal with that guy was, but he didn’t like him in the least. Still, Clifford was tempted to just make a list of all the flashbacks he had, which shouldn’t be as difficult as it sounded, seeing as he wrote them all down in his diary. The past few days, he had taken to just carrying the book with him, since he didn’t want to risk forgetting one if two or more came while he was away from home.

And if he managed to put them all in even just a rough outline of a timeline, he might get an answer without asking Wirt and possibly freaking him out.

He really should apologize to him for basically forcing him to be a mediator between Clifford and Dipper. Even though he knew Wirt wouldn’t pick one side over the other, simply because he knew where both of them were coming from, Clifford had still been angry at him for a while that he hadn’t taken his side. Which in hindsight was a really awful thing, honestly. Seeing as Will and Dipper got along better and better now that they’d overcome the initial misunderstanding and spent some time together – which still made him wildly uncomfortable – he could admit that he had been very biased against Dipper. And quite possibly still was.

And honestly, it turned out there was a similarity between himself and the two brunettes that he may have seen coming if he hadn’t been so caught up in his bias.

They were all very protective of their siblings.

Clifford himself, obviously, had been so in such a way that almost prevented the now growing friendship between Dipper and his brother. He still didn’t trust the former, but he could see that he’d acted like a jerk. Perhaps, since he already owed Wirt an apology, he might just add one for Dipper as well.

As Mabel had said once before, Dipper was also protective of her in pretty much the same way Clifford was of Will. Looking at the whole thing like that, it should have been obvious why they had clashed so much. Dipper had been protective of Mabel when he had thought Will was trying something with her and Clifford had retaliated and essentially alienated himself and Will from the other.

Wirt had been less obvious, but he suspected that if something were to threaten his little brother – of whom he had told several stories during their breaks and group outing – he could certainly act the same as Clifford and Dipper. Seeing as most of these stories stemmed from Greg doing something possibly dangerous with a complete lack of concern that any other eleven-year-old would have possessed.

“And he just- just waves at me?!” Wirt said with an exasperated face. “Standing on the _roof_? Like it’s normal, and waving with this-… grin on his face like he is invincible?”

“How did he even get up there?” Cordelia snorted.

“I don’t know?!” Wirt spread his arms in an exasperated fashion, which prompted another round of laughter from the group. “And I asked, you know! He just said he was looking for Jason.”

“Who?” Will asked.

“Oh. Right. He has a pet frog, he’s called Jason Funderberker.”

“Oh my gosh! You have a frog?” Mabel squealed. “That’s so cool, we should do a playdate with Waddles!”

“And what do us petless folk do then?” Will sighed melancholy before shooting a smirk at Clifford. “We should totally get a pet. You think mom and dad would allow a snake?”

“Why a snake?” He raised a brow.

“I dunno. Seems cooler than a cat or dog. Or a rabbit or something. Also, have you smelled dogs? I can always smell when someone on the train has a dog, it just smells really bad to me.”

Cordelia sighed. “I wish I could get a cat, but mom is allergic.”

“I had two hamsters when I was younger.” Dennis remarked. “The first lived a year over his expected lifespan, the other died after a month.”

“Woah.” Will said. “What did you do to the poor thing?”

“Nothing.” He paused before adding. “That sounds sorta bad. I _did_ feed him, you know.”

“I bet Will would actually forget to feed his snake all the time.” Cordelia teased.

“Actually,” Will corrected. “I wouldn’t, because a snake only eats like, once a week or something. So the only thing I’d have to do is give her clean water every day. Or every couple of days, I guess.”

“Someone did their research.” Clifford raised a brow. He hadn’t known that.

The semi-blondes face reddened a bit. “I got curious, so what. And I really would like a pet snake. They’re cool. Perhaps a corn snake, they’re supposed to be good for beginners.” He bounced in place before he quickly grabbed his stuff. “By the way, I have to go to the bathroom, catch you guys later!”

Alright, then.

 

\----------------------------------------

 

When had been the last time he lit any incense in his room?

‘Must have been a while ago.’ He mused as he hurried off towards the bathroom on the first floor. It was the only reason students were allowed inside and only on the first floor.

In the middle of his French class, he had started to hear whispers from Bill again, and he couldn’t figure out if they were getting louder or if he was just hearing them more clearly because he was focused on them.

**‘Possibly both. The stone is definitely starting to get weaker, that’s for sure.’**

If he could communicate with the other with the stone still on his skin, definitely. He quickly removed it and put it over his shirt to test something.

**Bill lifted his right hand, which went over without a hitch, then tried the other, which didn’t work. ‘So, yes. I can still use my half, but yours is off-limits.’**

‘Great. And since we only have three classes a week with Mabel, I can just leave it like this otherwise, right?’ Will asked. After all, if he took it off completely and forgot to put it back on during break, that would be hard to explain.

**‘Sure.’ It was rather ironic that it was Shooting Star of all people for whom he’d have to watch out for. The past couple of years must have really changed her, since he didn’t recall anything like the girl that had been standing in their room yesterday.**

‘Are you okay?’ Will moved towards the door when he heard the bell ring. It was a good thing he had grabbed his things when he left.

**‘Yeah, yeah, worry about your own problems.’ Bill grumbled.**

‘So, I _should_ worry about you?’

**‘Oh, har har. Good one.’**

His history class was mostly boring, despite the casual conversation they kept while **jotting down notes**.

Not having to actively worry about those was great, actually.

 **Despite the sentiment going more along the lines of** _Thankfulness_ **instead of** _Laziness_ **, Bill still decided to voice his irritation at this train of thought. ‘If you think I’m going to keep making these without you paying at least some attention, you’ll be in trouble.’**

‘I know, I know. Why are you even making them in the first place?’

 **‘I don’t need to tell you my reasons.’ Bill scoffed. In truth, he didn’t quite know himself. A little mental digging around and he realized the string of** _Concern About The Future_ **in the big tangle of other feelings he was drawing from Will’s side. Along with the whole** _Care_ **and** _Love_ **and** _Worry_ **parts, he wouldn’t be able to take these out on his own since they were readily pushed over by the boy. He groaned. He’d need to teach him to stop projecting these over as quickly as possible.**

**Despite knowing the reason, he didn’t stop taking notes.**

Apart from history, Will didn’t have a single class completely alone on Tuesdays, with Mabel in French, Dennis in Health, his brother in their tutoring lesson during the big break they had before Gym and later Dipper during said Gym class. Now that they got along better, they tended to team up, if only to get over the awkward stage of _Yeah, We Are Friends Now I Guess._ Which turned out to be _pretty_ awkward.

**Also, Gym was a great excuse to take off the aquamarine. With a smug grin, he put their phone and the stone in the big box where all the students put their jewellery and phones into for the duration of the class.**

After the warm-up, which consisted of running a couple of laps around the gym hall – they were in the bigger one today – the teacher picked two kids to choose teams for a round of dodgeball.

“Will.” One kid called him over to his team, and after a couple of minutes, everyone had been split up.

As it turned out, he and Dipper were on opposite teams. For a split second, the thought crossed his mind that it would be a good opportunity to bombard the other and a smirk spread across his face.

**‘Hmm, I knew there was a reason I like you.’ He didn’t even have anything to do with that thought. That was all Will’s own competitiveness and Dipper’s antagonizing during their first week.**

**He also spotted an opportunity for something entirely different he could do during the game, and their grin turned slightly devious.**

“Aaand- start!” the teacher tossed two balls into the air above each field and quickly moved aside to watch the chaos unfold.

Within seconds, a blonde girl – Lea? He still had trouble with most of his classmates' names – caught it and immediately threw it at a slightly bigger group on the other field. The girls standing there just shrieked and ducked, which resulted in one of them being out and heading towards the edges of the field.

Their teacher had a special rule for their dodgeball games, namely once players were out, they could still run around outside of the opposing team's field and try to hit them. This way, they could return to their field.

It was a good rule actually, since it not only kept everyone actively in the game, but also because the more players of one team were out, the harder it would be for the leading team to evade them, since they would be surrounded by the other team’s players.

‘It is a lot more challenging, but if the ones who’re out want to hit someone, they have to get one of the two balls first, and they can’t take one from the field, they can just catch it.’ Will jumped away to avoid a throw from one of said Out-Players. ‘Of course, their team will toss them balls over so they can return.’

It made for a very lively game and he had to keep jumping left and right, despite there being only two balls.

“Five more minutes!” called the teacher. Currently, Wills team numbers were dwindling rapidly, while the other group held their balance, with some of their players coming back in, but others being hit by his teammates.

Right in front of him, Janet pulled her arm back, clearly aiming a throw at him, which he swiftly evaded by moving to the side and there was **Tom with a ball, right behind him, duck now** which made the ball hit another one of his teammates. Now they were only two-

‘Wait what, excuse me?’ he turned around to look at Tom, who looked a bit pouty at having missed him despite throwing at him from behind.

**‘Well, good to know that works.’ Bill didn’t bother to keep the smugness off his face.**

‘Yes, great, but what exactly was that supposed to be?’ Will asked, mildly distracted by the fact that he had just seen Tom throw that ball at him, while _having his back towards him._

It made dodging stuff a lot harder, but he managed to catch a ball and throw it over to his out of play teammates before jumping away from a throw that Dipper made at him from the field. The brunette was hit immediately after by the teammate that had caught Will’s ball.

‘Three against…’ he did a quick count of the opposing team members still on the field. ‘six.’ He watched warily when a standoff formed, with one of their out of play teammates Marco aiming at one of the quicker on their feet opponents, who in turn was trying to get a good shot at one of the three of them still in the field. The moment she drew her arm back, Marco threw his ball and she whirled around, trying to catch it, but **it slipped through her hands**. Again, he hadn’t seen that part, since he had fallen over when he was dodging her attack.

‘Why do you do these things when I’m _already distracted_!?’ he demanded angrily while rolling aside to evade yet another throw from the boundaries of the field.

 **‘It’s more fun.’ Bill offered as an explanation and sent another vision of a girl on the other field aiming a ball at them. His original idea had been to just throw this at the boy when they were in some test and needed to cheat answers – which they wouldn’t need, but still. And this really _was_ much more ** fun **than that.**

‘I hate you.’

 **Despite the** _Anger_ **behind the statement it really didn’t feel like it.**

Will grumbled some obscenities under his breath, which just made Bill snicker, and kept on dodging. It was clear that their team was going to lose, but it was better to have one person standing rather than ending the game early because they were all out. Which all except Will were by now.

The other teens around the field had started a sort of tactic where they threw at him from the sides, so that the ones on the other side could catch the balls that missed. Like this, he only had to worry about his front and back, but couldn’t move any closer to the other two edges of the field because then they could just as well change tactics and try to get him from there.

The teacher’s whistle rang out.

The balls were dropped and the other team broke out into cheers, while his teammates came over to pat him on the back for holding out so long.

“That was awesome, how did you even see those coming?” Jin asked.

“Erm, I honestly don’t know? Some sort of instinct?” He guessed.

**‘Close, but not quite. Try again.’**

He was too worn out to think about it right now, so he just headed over to the benches and grabbed his bottle of water.

‘Later.’ He reassured.

 

\--------------------------

 

Clifford was a little glad they didn’t have their evening family talks _every day_ by now.

After they started school, they tried to keep sitting down together every once in a while, but with the teens being tired out and their parents differing work schedules, that turned out to be once or maximum twice a week.

The main reason why they still tried at all was that their parents were both trying so hard to make them remember their childhood. Every time they lounged about in the living room together, they would tell tales from years ago, looking for a sign that the boys remembered too.

It was really becoming harder and harder for Clifford to keep his returning memory to himself, but it was still wrong in so many places and he was sure his psychiatrist wouldn’t take it seriously or perhaps even-…

He sighed. Thankfully, Tuesday was one of the days were they were almost guaranteed to not have a family gathering. After gym, he just wanted to disappear into the garden for a couple hours and get his hands dirty.

It helped him to not overthink so much.

Rip out a few weeds here, put them in the bag, grab a few seeds and plant them here and there and over here, water the plants, perhaps he should mow the lawn sometime soon, and the moss here was getting a bit much, surely something can be done about that? This bush wasn’t getting better at all, it still looked dried up, look that up later-

Yes. Garden work was extremely relaxing, despite being physically difficult at times. In the end, he would be tired out enough that he could just go to sleep immediately, which was something he really appreciated. And as a side effect, their garden actually looked far nicer than it had the first time he’d seen it.

There were still some plants showing signs of being handled the wrong way, but after he had read up on the different species in their own garden – which his parents didn’t even know for the most part – he’d managed fairly quickly to bring a lot of these back to health, with a few stragglers here and there. He’d gotten rid of the weeds in one half of the garden by now and planted some flowers there, which were slowly starting to show. The other half was sadly still full of weeds, but some of these were actually really nice flowers that just weren’t blooming yet and he kept some of the supposed ‘weeds’ since they were actually herbs of some kind.

All in all, he was pretty content with working on it all, even though Annie kept worrying about it being too much work for him.

That being said, it was a lot of work, yes, but he was splitting it evenly, so he wouldn’t overwork himself. In fact, as Dr Daniels had said, this was actually good for him. With a pointed look at Will, who had admitted to not doing any sport outside of school.

Speaking of his brother…

Clifford wiped some sweat off his forehead and checked the time on his phone. He’d been outside for about two hours now, if he didn’t head inside now he could get in trouble with mom. The raven-haired boy lifted up the bag off weeds and sticks and heaved it into the shed. He would put it in the garbage on the day it was picked up, so he wouldn’t block the regular trash from the house.

After he headed inside and had a drink – taking care to drink it in front of Annie, so she wouldn’t worry about sudden dehydration – he went upstairs to take a shower. Once he got rid of the dirt and sweat, he changed into his pyjamas and went back downstairs to make himself a sandwich.

 “How is it going?” Annie asked. She was reading a book at the table, a cup of tea steeping beside her on the table.

“I’m halfway through the weeds. Do you have a favourite flower?” he asked, since so far he had planted only the flowers that were considered ‘easy’.

“Oh, that’s difficult… let’s see, I do like chamomile. They’re pretty to look at, they smell really good and they make a great tea.”

As he ate, they talked a little more about the garden, then about school and their friends. Annie addressed the subject of their birthday.

“I was thinking of inviting the rest of the family. We already told them that you’re awake after all, and they all want to see you.”

“It’s still months until then, isn’t it?”

“Little more than two, dear.” Annie chuckled. “Since they all live quite a distance away from here, it would be great to know in advance if you two are okay with them all coming over then.”

“It’s alright if you ask me. I think Will wouldn’t mind either, as long as we still get to invite our friends too.”

“Yes, yes! Us adults would take the younger kids and leave you teens to your own party later in the day, if that’s alright?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Thank you, dear. I’m going to ask Will too, then I can make the calls.”

“By the way, why haven’t they come over already?” As he asked, Clifford thought back to past few months and his face twisted. “Nevermind. I think I get it.”

“At first, it was just the two of you being busy with all the doctors’ appointments and rehab, then we all had to get accustomed to Wills condition and we really didn’t want you to be bombarded by family members just when school started and risk any possible new friendships.”

“When I think about it, it’s been rather busy.” Apart from some time in the evening, the twins had only really had time on weekends – and Saturday morning had been full of appointments too until this weekend.

“I’m glad that you’re adjusting so well.” Annie’s eyes were shining. “I was so worried we were rushing things or pushing too much, but-” she sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “It’s all working out…. Oh, damn it!” she kept wiping at her eyes and stood to walk around the table and hug her son. “You two are the most incredible and brave kids a mother could wish for.” She whispered and he wrapped her arms around her in return.

“You too. Thanks for not giving up on us.” He said, referring to their coma before adding, half-jokingly: “And sorry for making you wait so long.”

“Oh, shut up, you’re going to make me cry for real.” She took a deep breath and gave him a kiss on the forehead. “Now, shoo!” she waved her hands and laughed. “You have homework to do and clean your room and you have school tomorrow and so on and so on.”

He smiled at her and nodded before heading back upstairs into his room - which for the record was perfectly clean, not like Will’s.

It was 6 PM now, and usually he would play some violin, but he had the feeling that would actually make Annie cry and even if it was out of joy, he didn’t really want that, so he just used his laptop to look up some plants and later he started to read some stories online.

He had to rip himself away from one to do his homework, but he managed to get most of it done for tomorrow before being sucked back into the fantasy world the story was playing in.

Before he knew it, two hours had passed by. Clifford sighed. He was having fun reading, but he was sort of bored regardless.

Perhaps he should get started on that memory list?

He sat down at his desk, pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen, then began to write.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS:  
> Before anyone protests Jason Funderberker still being alive: I headcanon that he is one of these frogs that can live somewhere from 7 to 24 years. I mean, have you seen the size of that thing? If that even is a frog, it surely won’t die after three or four years.


	32. Listen, this is important

‘So.’

**‘Uh, oh.’ He knew what was coming, the thoughts had been floating over to him the whole day and he could barely keep out all the** _Curiosity_ **from his part of their shared mind.**

‘You know what I’m asking, I guess?’

**Bill sighed and stood from the bed to sit at the desk, taking a sheet of paper to draw on. “Yeah, yeah.”**

**‘So, which answer do you want first?’**

‘How does the brain-roommates thing work? Can I keep some at least _some_ things private?’ Will felt his face go red, thinking of his recent search into the depths of the internet to ‘re-educate’ himself as Cordelia had put it. The constant whining from Bill hadn’t made it a very great experience.

**‘Because it’s me, no. But I could retreat for a short while if you want to do that sort of stuff so badly.’ He scoffed as he tried to draw a brain. ‘Teenagers.’**

**“Urrrgh, why doesn’t this work?” he growled, then moved the pencil to** his left. Will took the pencil and had a rough outline of a brain from the top on the sheet of paper within seconds.

**‘That’ll do.’ He took the pencil back and made a couple of lines in some areas. ‘This isn’t what it really looks like, this is just me trying to translate it into something you can understand.’**

‘Thanks.’ Came the sarcastic reply. ‘Just because I make something simple and understandable out of a textbook picture doesn’t mean I’m dumb.’ Referring to their talk in the car earlier that morning.

**‘Here. That is just roughly how your brain might be separated right now, nothing like how our actual Mindscape looks like. This-’ he wrote his name above the right one. ‘-is the left brain. That’s my space. The other one is yours.’ He leaned down and coloured in some areas in the middle in black.**

****

‘What’s that?’

**‘Long Term Memory.’ He pointed to the darker area. ‘The only reason there is anything white in there is that you got a couple more memories after the rest of them were lost.’**

‘You have lost memories too.’ He tapped the other side, where there was some black as well.

**‘…It’s hard to hold onto everything when you’re fading from existence.’ Knowledge, for one thing, was something he had been very keen to keep, but most of it was buried deep in the subconscious. ‘For now, I took what I needed and left the rest behind. Some unimportant memories are gone and a lot more are somewhere in our shared subconscious – that, by the way, is mostly mine. These are just the memories I need direct access to.’**

**‘Then, there is this part, which is roughly where our short term memory is created and stored for the day.’ He picked up a few markers and drew a few more things before adding a few words here and there.**

****

‘Right, you’re connected to my blind side.’ Will lifted his left hand up to his right eye.

**‘Of all the things to lose in an accident.’ Bill grumbled. ‘Anyways, that’s one of the things I’m borrowing.’ He pointed to Will’s side at the area now labelled as _Senses (Sight, Touch, etc.)_.**

**‘The** Sight **is completely yours, since what I’m getting from you is mostly how to use the rest of these organs.’ He had never really needed to smell or taste things before when he’d taken over a body, and even though he’d had those senses, along with** Touch **and** Hearing **, he’d often overloaded them or misinterpreted what info he got from them.**

**‘In terms of memory, other than this, we don’t share anything. If you recall something that happened the other day, I do too, but that’s because you’re thinking of it – and also because I was there for it. If you suddenly remembered the stuff that happened before, that wouldn’t be my memory and would only be accessible to me if you actively thought about it. That’s why this line is closed.’ He pointed to the Long Term Memory line. ‘Nothing gets out unless you think of it.’**

Will nodded slowly, staring intently at the paper. ‘What’s back here?’ Keeping his eye on the third marked area in the back.

**Bill nodded and started drawing again.**

****

‘Basic Body Functions.’

**‘I didn’t usually have a physical body, so yes.’ He said defensively. ‘That-’ he highlighted the words in yellow. ‘- is also something I’m borrowing. At the same time, you’re also giving it freely most of the time, so it’s fifty-fifty.’  Bill added a circle in orange around it.**

‘If you didn’t, would my right body-half just stop working?’

**‘No, I would still be able to move, but it would look strange. I’ve been busted sometimes just because I _blinked_ wrong.’**

‘You can blink wrong?’

**‘Apparently!’**

‘So, I won’t suddenly fall over because my left leg isn’t working?’

**‘Nah, you’ll be fine if I ever do stop using that.’**

‘So far, this has just been you getting stuff from my half.’ He raised a brow.

**‘That’s where this comes into play.’ He smirked and made a green circle around the eye on the opposing side of** Basic Body Functions **. ‘Because this is what happened during that dodgeball match earlier. All me, and all freely given. You’re welcome.’**

‘So… what is that?’

**‘In layman’s terms? It used to be a lot more than this-’ which had really been a horrible thing to discover, ‘-but here.’ He sent over as much as he could see at the moment. Which really wasn’t much, to his dismay.**

Will suddenly had a very clear image of the entire room behind him, he could tell where everything was, could even get a rough bit of an idea what was right behind the walls around him and down the hallway. Towards his front, he had a clear view of the garden below, where Clifford was currently picking out weeds from a flowerbed. Usually, he would have had to stand up from his desk to see their garden completely.

“Woah.”

**It was so awful. He was genuinely impressed by this, and it could have been so much more!**

**‘Ugh, as I said, this is actually terrible. It used to go all over the universe.’**

Will swallowed. ‘You know, I think my brain might overload from that? I don’t think so much could even fit.’

**‘That’s probably why it has been so slow to extend its radius. It’s gotten tremendously easier with the atacamite, but it’s still too little.’ He grumbled. ‘Also, that just there was something you borrowed from me.’**

‘What?’

**‘The knowledge that your brain wouldn’t be able to take in the entire universe. That’s something from my side, but you sort of need it to function as a normal human, soo- Let’s say that one’s half-taken and half-given.’**

‘Like the emotions?’

**‘Exactly.’ He drew in a few more lines and wrote down a few things that went with each brain half.**

****  


**‘I use your capabilities for that to make my own, just as you use my knowledge without realizing it and I give you some Logic and Reasoning, just like you give me** Creativity **and** Emotions **. Really, though, most of these go both ways, a lot of them we give freely, so it doesn’t matter much if the other is taking it. So yeah, I take your abilities to feel and make this half of our body function normally, but until recently, you did have sole control of that half anyways.’**

**Of course, it would be fantastic if Will could keep some of his own** emotions **to himself. And sure, if he could find them all in the mess that was his half – one could almost compare this split mindscape of theirs as if comparing Will’s room to Clifford’s – then he could push them out again. But things, not just** feelings **tended to mix and mingle and after a while, he wouldn’t even be able to tell if it was Will’s** feeling **or his own.**

**Which sucked majorly.**

**There were some** emotions **he generally didn’t want in the first place and had missed when they first began to drift over, but by now it was so hard to push out the** _Care_ **Will had for** his family **or the** Wonder **at something new. He couldn’t recall when he had last felt that, nothing had been new to him for a long time.**

**So, some just…stayed. For now.**

Will wrinkled his nose. ‘Why did you colour everything on my side orange?’

**‘Because you have no clue how to keep to yourself. You’re sending all this over nonstop, when the only things I actually want are the ones in the yellow boxes. It’s really annoying, at times.’**

‘Alright then. The other question. What happened to you and what does Mabel have to do with it?’

**‘I nearly died because of her family and they all hate me, just as I hate them. End of story.’**

‘Really? Come on, at least tell me what happened.’

**‘They tried to kill me, I escaped and ended up here.’**

‘What, just like that? If you don’t want to talk about it, just say so!’ Will frowned, now frustrated by the other’s evasions.

**‘ _Yes_ , I don’t want to talk about it!’ Bill snapped.**

‘You could be less bitchy about it.’

**‘Oh no, heaven forbid I be bitchy about dying.’ He grumbled.**

Will sighed. ‘If you don’t want to talk about that, then at least tell me about the after. Why are you here now?’

**‘I am here because I needed a lifeboat.’ The only reason he was explaining any of this in the first place is that he couldn’t leave. It was easier to have Will not fighting him on everything, and if he gave the boy some answers, at least there would be some degree of trust from the other towards him. Therefore, some things needed to be said. Others, not so much.**

**‘And since my first choice was too guarded to let me in – believe me I tried for a while – I just jumped over to you, which was far easier. You were practically half dead when I arrived.’**

‘You mean the accident?’

**‘I mean the coma. Being in a coma for six years isn’t exactly good for your body or your brain, so you already** **had a lot** **missing.’ The kid had really been in terrible shape. But, there had been enough to rebuild his body and psyche after he possessed him, even if it did take almost as long as the boy had been in the coma already.**

‘I was dying?’

**‘It was a rather interesting set of coincidences. You know, whatever took your eye out also burrowed it’s way right here.’ He tapped the part of the picture that displayed the left brain half. ‘So, that was what went first, along with your long term memory. Then I came in, threw out the stuff I had that I could regain later from this side-’ he tapped the other brain half. Bill would have preferred to keep his own abilities, but there simply hadn’t been enough room in the kid’s head. ‘-and took over that half.’**

**He hadn’t expected the boy to put up any fight, being half dead and all, but where Will’s body had suffered from the coma, his brother would have perhaps woken up a week later if Bill hadn’t come along that day.**

**‘You would have died within the next month without me, if you’d even lived to see the end of the week.’**

Will was a little confused by the things he’d just been told, but he felt like pressing the other for more info wouldn’t do any good.

**Smart kid.**

‘Then what about the stones? What do they all do exactly? The aquamarine affect you, but how and why?’ The other ones – the azurmalachite and atacamite – were also of interest, but since they’d promised Mabel to wear the aquamarine, perhaps they should try to find something that perhaps looked like it but didn’t have an effect – or at least not a negative one – on Bill

**‘Well, it affects me because it registers me as a negative force. It still lends you its powers in regards to balance, that’s why you could start hearing the difference between you and me.’**

He raised his brow and eyed the stone lying on the windowsill in front of him. ‘I can still hear that now.’

‘Because there’s no point in making it sound like you again.’ Bill demonstrated.

‘Yeah, I can still tell something is off.’

**‘And it takes effort, so I just don’t do it anymore. I thought we had a solution for that already. It’s running out of power, so in a couple of days it’ll just be a completely normal rock.’**

**When fully charged and in contact with Will’s skin, it would confine Bill to his half of their mindscape, with no way of communication to the other, except for the abilities Will took from his left brain half when he needed them. Which also meant he could not connect to the right half and had very little idea about what was going on unless Will was thinking it directly at him. Thankfully, after being told he had a second personality Will tended to do that a lot, so Bill didn’t miss that much.**

**But still, he hated it with a passion.**

**Being unable to make sense of the input he got from their body was just one thing among many that annoyed him. To his relief, when the aquamarine was just nearby, but not in direct contact with the skin, he would regain that ability along with the communication.**

**‘You should wear the atacamite more often.’ He remarked.**

‘Why?’

**‘It helps to make contact with the spiritual. To you, perhaps you’ll be able to keep your thoughts and feelings to yourself, while to me, it’ll help improve my Sight.’**

Will shrugged. That was pretty much along the lines of what he found online, so he reached over and put the stone on.

‘So, like, we just wear this one at home and the aquamarine to school?’ he didn’t get an answer to that question, but it had been rhetoric anyhow. He sighed and opened up his laptop. The evening was still young and unlike Clifford, Will tended to stay up pretty late. One day he’d gone to bed at 2 AM on a school day, which had been one of the worst days at school he’s had.

Still, he had video games and the internet, so he was going to have some fun before going to sleep. A thought occurred to him.

‘Do you have a favourite thing to do?’

**‘Nothing we could do as we are right now…..’ He looked through their small but growing game collection before clicking on one. ‘Just make some Sims and kill them all off.’**

 

\-------------------------------

 

_ Certain-these-are-real memories _

  * **_The violin lessons_** _(several, with varying degrees of frustration or accomplishment, start around beginning of first grade and go on up to the accident_ _\-- >_ _ 2007-2008)_
  * **_Family_** _**and Friends** (a lot, from lullabies and games to small fights and some as mundane as just cleaning our room, in the earliest ones we are 2 __\-- >_ _ 2002ish)_
  * **_School_** _(not as many as family or as little as violin, mostly boring with some interesting bits, I looked through our old report cards_ _\-- >_ _guaranteed 2007-2008)_



_ Unsure/Dream?/Death? _

  * _The one with Cordelia (unsure, need her to tell me details perhaps, time unclear_ _\-- >_ _If death theory, perhaps shortly after accident? About 2008 She never came back.)_
  * _Being a tree (So many, very boring except for talks with Will, passage of time becomes unclear in some_ _\-- >_ _If death theory: …I don’t know, a couple months? A year? Several years? So 20)_
  * _Conceptual weirdness (Also a lot, no idea what exactly is going on/ just rough shapes if any/ mostly feelings, time even unclearer than with tree_ _\-- >_ _??????)_
  * _(Actually just one, but he’s there and I don’t know why, no idea when this would be, he looks just like he does now_ _\-- >_ _MAYBE 2016-2018? No idea.)_



Clifford sighed and paused before adding-

 

_ Triggers _

 

Because while some came at random times, often they came because he was thinking about something similar or saw a kid with ice cream – which had triggered a rather sad memory of Will losing his ice cream to a large dog slobbering it up, around the age of three.

He tried to recall what sort of memories came with which train of thought, checking his journal to jog his memory.

After about twenty minutes, he had the list complete.

 

_ Triggers _

  * _Anything with forests_ _\-- >_ _One of the Unclear memories_
  * _Family time_ _\-- >_ _Something along the same lines of what is going on (Example: Board Games with Family_ _\-- >_ _Getting that game/ playing another children’s board game/ something completely different, but relating to what is playing out in the game)_
  * _Repeated sentences (like deja-vu)_ _\-- >_ _Memory of other time something like that was said (Moms Lullaby, MAYBE the thing Wirt said? Only If the dream memories are somehow real.)_
  * _Some come in dreams_
  * _…completely random things_



 

Because even after looking for it for so long, there were just some flashbacks that came out of nowhere, as well as those that were triggered by a small random thing – like the ice cream thing – and he couldn’t pinpoint it at all.

Clifford stood and walked over to the window, watching the sun near the horizon. It was not setting yet, but soon it would be time to get ready for bed.

He sighed and returned to his desk, folded the paper once, twice, before stuffing it in his back pocket and going downstairs to have a drink. Annie had moved to the living room and was watching TV with dad, so he didn’t disturb them and headed back upstairs.

Booting up his computer, he browsed for a while before he found a puzzle website. This was actually great since he could listen to some music while solving puzzles, in contrast to while he was reading.

If there were lyrics in the music, they just tended to confuse him while he was reading, so since he liked reading more than the music, he had almost given up on that, so he was glad to have this.

Pretty soon, he decided to call it quits and go to sleep, his body heavy and tired from all the physical work he’d had today. He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and go to the toilet, then a couple of minutes later, he was already under his sheets.

And, like magic, his lids fell shut the moment he’d gotten comfortable.

 

_‘See that?’_

_A yellow light in between the cyan flames_

_‘Grab it, quick!’_

_He reached out, no fear of being burnt, he just NEEDED to get that light._

_‘Got you.’_

_The light was fire, it was life and joy, but also fear and almost-death._

_‘It will go out if you hold it like this.’_

_Just like dads lantern would._

_‘That’s a good idea! What did it look like?’_

_He thought very hard. It was so long ago, had it been years? It had been very dark, of that he was certain. Perhaps it had been red once, but there was so much soot on it. And it had a glass lid on the front and a handle at the top._

_‘Something like this?’_

_He looked down to his feet. Something just like that. He nodded and picked it up._

_‘There we go. Now put it inside and you’ll be good.’_

_He placed the life-joy-good-light inside. It burned just a bit brighter than before._

_He wasn’t going to die tonight. Or ever again._

_Once was enough._

 


	33. Hear the coming-...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Has anyone here ever wondered why at the end of OTGW, no one seems to react to a ringing frog?  
> Also: There’s gonna be a new chapter on In Between called ‘Protection, Kindness and Hope’ this Wednesday! Yay!
> 
> I really have nothing more to say xD Enjoy!
> 
> Holly~♥

The rest of the week progressed as usual, with the exception of their groups planned weekend. Cordelia had suggested going to Wirt’s house, since they had already spent a lot of time at the Taylor’s house, as well as at hers and Dennis’.

That’s how Friday evening, Clifford found himself and Will being dropped off by Annie for a barbeque, carrying a small bowl of homemade dip and a couple baguettes. Will got out of the car and took a couple of bags of marshmallows along. They had agreed to each bring something to the barbeque, Cordelia was going to bring some drinks and Dennis was in charge of contributing some healthier snacks so none of their parents had any reason to complain. Wirt and the Pines had split the food that was actually going to go on the grill.

Seeing as his brother’s hands were full, Clifford rang the doorbell and they only had to wait for a minute before the gate left of the house swung open and a little boy waved at them.

“Hello! Are you Wirt’s friends? Come over here!” he called them over and immediately disappeared back into the garden.

He tried and failed to not judge the state some of the plants were in. It wasn’t bad, really, there were just a couple of flowers that could use some more water - and that one spot that could use some more sunlight - but really, he should stop. Clifford ripped his roaming eyes away from the plant life, a little embarrassed that the first thing he did on their first visit was to mentally criticize the McLoughlin’s garden.

In the middle of the lawn, there was a big table – two tables pushed together, actually – and currently, Cordelia and Dennis were bringing out dishes and setting the table. The boy who had waved at them from the gate had probably been Greg, but he was nowhere to be found now.

“Hey!” Cordelia called. “Wirt and Greg are getting out napkins and more glasses. Put down your stuff somewhere here-” she waved down the length of the table before gesturing to the plates and silverware. “- then help us sort these out everywhere.”

He set down the dip roughly in the middle while Will spread the three bags of marshmallows out a little more.

“We’re never going to eat so many marshmallows, Will.” Dennis observed.

“You haven’t met Greg!” Wirt called from the door to the house, emerging with roughly five glasses in each hand. “He’s gonna go through a single bag all by himself – could you take some of these off me please?” he asked Clifford once he had come closer. The raven-haired boy quickly reached out to do so. “Thanks.”

Within no time, they had the table set and the Pines twins had arrived as well, having been let in by Greg.

Who had a giant toad under his arm.

“Why do you have a giant toad under your arm?” Clifford tilted his head at the amphibian.

“He’s not a toad, he’s a frog!” came the almost indignant answer.

“I don’t think that answers his question.” Will giggled, but was promptly ignored as Greg played with his pet. Will leaned over to Wirt and stage whispered: “Why _does_ he have a giant frog?”

“He found it – two years back or so?” the brunette shrugged and continued trying to light up the coal. “And then he decided to keep it. He has a terrarium set up, but it’s only really used at night.”

“Aww man, I should have brought Waddles!” Mabel whined and plopped down on one of the chairs.

Somewhere nearby, Clifford heard something ringing, then he saw Will check his phone. “Who’s writing you?”

“Noone.” Will seemed confused, then he shrugged. “I thought there was, but I must have heard something wrong.”

“Aha!” Wirt exclaimed when the coals finally lit up. “I’m the fire master!”

“Praise him!” Dennis exclaimed. “There shall be food, and none ought to hunger anymore!”

Will laughed nervously and put back a snack bowl that was suspiciously low on contents already. Dennis peeked inside and nodded, impressed. “At least someone is actually eating the healthy stuff. Would be suspicious if I brought all of it back home.” Then he stole a piece of carrot to munch on and leaned back in his seat.

“Are we waiting for someone?” Dipper asked, with an eye on the three empty seats at the head of the table.

“No, no.” Wirt shook his head as Greg climbed up on one of them. “Our parents might join us later. They’re out now, but should be home in a few hours.”

Pretty soon, they all had their plates loaded with food and Wirt took a break from the grill to sit down with them.

“Should one of us take over?” Clifford asked.

“Nah, it’ll be fine.” He waved it off before taking a bite of baguette. “Did you make the dip at home?”

“Clifford and mom did.” Will answered. “I was off getting marshmallows with dad.”

“Well, uh, it’s great.”

Clifford nodded. “Thank you.”

“Awww!” Greg cooed.

“Shut up, Greg.” Wirt said good-naturedly.

“How old are you, by the way?” Dennis asked the youngest in their round.

“I’m eleven!” he exclaimed before furrowing his brow and counting on his fingers. “Aaaand almost four months this Sunday.”

Clifford caught Will counting back. “So you're born on May 16?”

“Yup! When is your birthday?”

“November 27.” The older Taylor twin answered.

“What, that’s in two months!” Mabel gasped.

“Actually,” Cordelia started. “I think Dennis is next. His is on October 17, and I know you and Dipper were born in August, so that leaves me – January – and Wirt.” she looked at him expectantly.

“March 4.” He offered with a shrug.

“See? So the next party is Dennis’.”

“Urgh.” He had dropped his head in his hands. “Don’t remind me, honestly, my parents keep asking what I’m wishing for and- I don’t know?!”

“When do you want to celebrate?”

“I’m actually thinking of pushing it back this year and celebrating on Halloween?” he shrugged. “Otherwise, the weekend?”

“Just don’t forget to invite us!” Will teased and opened up the marshmallows.

“Here.” Wirt dug around under the table and got out a couple of wooden sticks for them.

“Thanks.”

Clifford watched his twin try to get the marshmallow on the stick properly, before he went over to the simmering coals. Seeing as they had mostly finished, they dispersed a bit, with Cordelia and Mabel joining Will at the grill and Greg running off with his plate - after stacking almost half a bag of marshmallows on it – to check on his frog. He stayed at the table with the remaining three boys.

“Is he really going to finish that?” Dipper asked, looking over to where Greg was playing with his frog.

“Yup.” Wirt nodded. “I believe he has a black hole for a stomach.”

Dennis frowned a bit. “Is that healthy?”

He and Wirt talked about metabolisms and eating habits for a while, when Clifford heard it again.

This time, when he heard the ringing, it was Dipper who checked his phone before looking around the garden.

“You heard that too?” Clifford asked him.

“Oh my god, thank you!” Cordelia exclaimed from the grill. “I thought I was going crazy, you heard it too?”

“What?” Dennis frowned.

“The ringing?” Mabel stated.

“You can hear that too?” Wirt's eyes widened.

“Well, yeah, it’s pretty annoying.” Will shrugged, although he had a sour look on his face. “Where is it coming from anyway? Did someone leave a timer running or something?”

“I don’t hear anything.” Dennis look told Clifford that the other boy thought they were all crazy.

“Well yeah, it’s stopped now.” Cordelia came over to stand behind Dennis chair. “I thought it sounded pretty nice.”

Greg gasped loudly and came over with his frog. “You can hear the b-pfrth!”

Wirt had swiftly reached over to his brother and stuffed a marshmallow in his mouth. “Greg, why don’t you go feed Jason inside?”

“Mpfth- but Wiiirt, they can hear the bell!” He shook his frog around, and the ringing started up again.

“The frog?” Cordelia raised a brow. “What did you do to the poor thing? And stop shaking it, that’s a living being!”

“I didn’t do anything, he ate the bell all on his own!”

Wirt buried his face in his hands and groaned, and Dennis shook his head. “What are you jabbering about, I can’t hear a thing.”

“Well, yeah, most people can’t hear it.” Greg said with a large smile. “I have never known so many people at once who could! This is amazing!”

Mabel lit up as well. “Oooh! So it’s a magic bell?”

“What?!” Wirt boggled at her.

“Yeah!” said Greg at the same time.

“So, what, Dennis is the only one who can’t hear it?” Will frowned. “Why?”

“Well, no, actually.” Wirt spoke up again. “Y-you are actually the odd ones out. Until now, I have met only about four or five people that could hear it, but only two of them actually confirmed that they did. I have no idea why some can hear and others don’t, but if anything, Dennis is the only normal one here.”

“Great.” Dennis frowned. “Once again, I’m the boring normal dude.”

“Nah, Dennis, think about it.” Dipper patted him in the back. “If you hadn’t insisted we were all crazy, we wouldn’t have paid it any more attention. This is really interesting, since when does it do that?” he pointed at the frog.

“Since about two years?” Wirt shook his head. “Honestly, I’ve been wracking my head for a long time about this, it isn’t worth thinking about.”

“Booo!” Mabel cupped her hands around her mouth. “Boring! This is a mystery and it needs to be solved!”

As the others began to argue back and forth, Clifford leaned back in his seat and stared into the air as he thought.

He had a strange feeling about this, as though it was something he should have found bad, but instead, it was just familiar. There was something so similar to the way he felt, just like he did when he was about to have a flashback, but this time, it just wouldn’t come. He tried to push past, to slip into his subconscious on purpose, but it was as if he was trying to walk through molasses.

He caught a snippet of conversation – the others were now trying to find things they had in common – and he wondered. What did they all have in common that wasn’t common at all? After all, Wirt said not many people could hear the ringing. He knew a lot of things he and his brother had in common - or them and Cordelia, but the fact that Dennis was missing threw him off. And those were almost all common experiences that a lot of people had. He could think of a few traits he, Dipper and Wirt had in common personality wise, but surely it couldn’t be based on something such as personality. It must be some sort of experience they all shared. But they hadn’t been friends for long enough for anything significant to happen, so it must have been before-

Wait.

He backtracked. Clifford knew him, Will, Cordelia and Dennis had been in an accident, but only Dennis stayed conscious. For the first time, he was about to give honest credibility to his Life-after-Death theory. Because, if that was indeed the key, then it would make sense for Wirt to hear it too, since he did have some of those memories that contained Wirt. Cordelia had been in one of those as well, but…

He focused on the present again and eyed the Pines. He was just about to ask when-

 

_“Golden comb of honey!”_

\- (And that was Greg's voice.) -

_(Oh. That’s genius.)_

_Why does this brat have to be so inventive?! And you, shut up!_

**_(Wait, doesn’t he have a brother too? I don’t wan-)_ **

**_Shut. Up._ **

**_I am trying. To think of something impossible!_ **

“Oh.” Clifford exclaimed. He didn’t particularly care that this one was so short, when it had conveniently given him a solid clue for once.

“What was it this time?” Will asked.

“Who here has had a near death experience?” he asked, for once just saying what came to mind immediately.

“What?!” Wirt’s eyes looked as though they might fall out of his skull.

“Because Will and I did, and I’m sure I can count in Cordelia as well, but Dennis stayed conscious after the accident.”

“That makes absolutely no sense at all.” Dennis deadpanned. “Greg is like, eleven.” He paused before adding: “And I know that is a really bad point, since we were eight when we had our accident, but still.”

“I nearly drowned two years ago!” Greg exclaimed with a way too happy grin. “Wirt did too!”

Dennis made a face and gestured at the Pines. “That still doesn’t explain these two. Please prove him wrong you guys.” He added with a pleading note.

“Um, yeah, sorry.” Dipper looked stunned. “But I think we had several of those.”

Cordelia joined in. “With an out of body experience, or not?”

“Urgh, I guess?” Dipper made a disgusted face and Will sputtered a laugh into his drink.

“Great. There you have it.” The ginger girl said and flicked Dennis on the back of his head. “Something uncommon to have in common, we all nearly died, except for you.”

“Where you actually in-” Wirt stopped and frowned. “Nevermind.”

Clifford didn’t think anyone else had actually heard him, as they all continued bickering about what that meant. When Wirt turned away to put out the coals, Clifford stood from his seat and joined him.

“Can I help?” he asked.

“Uh, not really, I think. Thanks anyways.”

He watched silently for a few moments before asking.

“What did you want to ask?”

“It’s nothing, just forget it.”

“I can’t remember much, but the first memory I had after the accident was not waking up in a hospital.” He said quietly.

For a moment, Wirt paused, then met his eyes questioningly.

“When I woke up, it was the first memory I had, but memories from before have been coming back over the past few months. I thought it was a fever dream for a long time, but then Cordelia told that story about what she dreamed about after the accident and now I think it was something else.” He sighed, then shook his head. “It probably wasn’t what you were trying to ask anyways. Nevermind.”

Clifford moved back to the table. Cordelia suddenly eyed the brunette at the grill with a confused look.

“Hey, Wirt, didn’t you say your parents would want something too?”

“Uh, n-no. If they had gotten here before 8 PM, yes. B-but if they took longer, they said they would get something to eat on the road or something.” He shrugged.

As the sun began to set, they started to move the remaining food inside the kitchen and clean the dishes. Just half an hour later found them lounging on the couch in the living room, trying to pick a movie to watch.

“Can you tell me if this one any good?” Clifford held up a movie.

Dennis gasped. “You did not just ask that.” He shook his head. “He just asked if Harry Potter was any good, can you believe him?”

“Muggles.” Mabel shook her head.

“Great. We have a movie.”

Greg whooped and snatched it from Clifford. Within no time, they had all settled down with the remaining veggies and marshmallows and were having the time of their life.

 

\------------------------

 

Once more, there wasn’t going to be a sleepover that night. There were a horde of tests coming in the next two weeks and both Dennis and Dipper had said they’d like to study, which also made the Taylor’s recall the Math test on Monday. Specifically, it reminded Will that he hadn’t done that much learning at all these past few weeks.

**‘I hope you don’t plan to do that today.’ Bill showed him the time. He didn’t particularly care, it was simply that sleep-deprived bodies were the absolute worst.**

Will shook his head as he put on his jacket, before turning to say goodbye. “See you guys on Monday.”

Dennis had already gone to walk home, but Cordy had waited with them for the Annie, who volunteered to pick them up afterwards.

“I’m gonna miss you!” Cordy hugged Mabel.

Dipper raised a brow at her. “You have improv on Sunday.”

“Pfft!” she made a dismissive sound and waved him off before heading for the door. “Bye!”

The two brothers said their goodbyes as well, then joined their friend and mother in the car. Cordy had claimed the front seat as her own, but since they rode in the back most of the time anyways, this didn’t bother the twins much. As soon as their car had pulled out of sight of Wirt’s house, Will removed his necklace and hid the stone in his pocket. It was mostly useless by now, but it still annoyed Bill and he got grumpy, which in turn annoyed Will.

“Did you have fun?” Annie asked.

“Yeah, we ate almost all the stuff we brought.” Will said. “Wirt liked the dip, by the way.”

“That’s nice to hear.”

“Nah, I don’t think he swings that way.” Cordy said simultaneously, which made their mom laugh.

“What?” Will frowned.

**‘Ew.’**

“Look it up when you’re home.” Cordy grinned. “Oh, by the way, Mrs Taylor, do you have the Harry Potter movies at home? If not, you guys can borrow the next ones from me.” She directed the latter at the twins. They had ended up watching the second right after the first and for once, both twins had been enthusiastic about the same movie. Will knew Clifford didn’t like the same sort of movies he did – which were mostly animated – so he was actually glad to find something they could watch together and both enjoy.

“We did have the first and second one, but since the second would have been a little too much for the boys, we never got the other ones. Clifford loved the books, though.”

“I did?”

“Yeah, Sam started reading the first to you when you were around six or seven, but getting only a chapter per evening was too slow for you, and you basically started to teach yourself how to read with very little of our assistance.”

“Woah, that’s cool. And totally Clifford.” Will chuckled.

“I think you read up to the fourth book. They should still be in the basement or perhaps Sam took them to his study. You should ask him.” Annie explained as the drew up to their house. The drive wasn’t all that long, but it could have taken them over half an hour on foot. They wouldn’t have arrived until 3 AM.

They said goodbye to Cordelia, then Clifford quickly got himself ready for bed, while Will lounged a bit downstairs to get a bottle of his ice tea before going upstairs to play around on his computer for a while before going to sleep.

Despite it being almost 2:30, Will didn’t feel particularly tired. He ended up looking up stone powers online, as well as looking for one that was similar enough to aquamarine, but had different effects, so that he had something he could wear in front of Mabel without making Bill irritable. Just as he was reaching for the ice tea, **Bill pushed the bottle** – thankfully closed – **onto the floor**.

‘You’re lucky, that could have been a pain to clean up.’

**‘You’re not going to get any sleepier if you fill yourself up with sugar stuff.’ Bill grumbled. Knowing the aftereffects of a sleepless night and too much sugar wearing off, he didn’t really want a repeat performance.**

Will groaned and laid his forehead down on the desk.

“Clifford doesn’t even know about what happened this Monday.” He stated softly. “He was so worried that I’d be upset about the memory thing, and he told me anyways, it just doesn’t feel fair that I can’t talk to him about this.”

**‘Who said you couldn’t?’**

“What?”

**‘I said: Who said you couldn’t? By all means, go on an tell him, he won’t tell a soul as far as I can tell.’**

‘You couldn’t have said that earlier this week, could you?’ Will growled and started for the door, before turning around to get the piece of paper hidden in his diary that had Bill’s picture of their brain-situation detailed on it.

**‘Why? This is way funnier.’ Bill laughed.**

“I really hate you sometimes.”

He had just arrived at the top of the staircase when he spotted Clifford, who was already halfway up the stairs and had a piece of paper with him as well.

“Hey.” His older twin said quietly, almost sounding relieved. “I really need to talk to you.”

 

\-----------------------------

 

Clifford had just written down the latest flashback and his – basically – confirmed life-after-death theory, when the second flashback of the day hit. Or the first of the day, judging from the time. It was the clearest and longest he had of it’s kind so far.

When he surfaced again, he was faced with pages of angry scribbles and as he looked down on his notebook, he was stunned to discover he had written it all down in a frenzy. Some of the parts were familiar, snippets of dreams he’s had – and for a second, he laughed. Those had been mostly from dreams, probably part of this whole thing lying in front of him and he’d only processed a few snippets at a time.

Thank. God.

Had this come to him any earlier, he might have gone berserk. The thought alerted him to the fact that he was still very panicked and he tried to even out his breathing as he read the slightly wobbly text in front of him.

 

_There is a strange warmth beside me, which doesn’t stem from Willard’s presence there. We have been here for so long, his leaves are beginning to fall off in some places. Mine, however, are still fine._

_I slowly regain consciousness -_

_Fire._

_And it’s right next to me._

_Right next to me, where Will-_

_‘WILLARD!’ I scream. ‘NO!’_

_The cyan flames are licking at the tree beside me, and was quickly burning it – him - to ashes._

_I am struggling so much to get closer, to help him, but I can’t there are no arms or legs no muscles to move them and Willard is dying why is nobodyhelpinweare going to die-_

_“I can help you.”_

_The VOICE comes from everywhere at once, echoing._

_‘Help us!’ I screamed. (Pointless. Noone walking past them ever heard.)_

_“I am not walking past, dear child.” Something’s scratching at the base of my roots, and then I can feel a small creature slowly beginning to climb up. "How can I help?"_

_It’s so slow, how can it help? What are you?_

_Looking down. It’s a small turtle._

_‘What can you do?’_

_It can’t help with the fire_

_Oh god the fire is dying, there’s nothing left now_

_No. No. Oh nononononono-_

_He’s gone._ _He’s dying._

_'Why aren’t you helping?_ ’

_Can’t move. Can’t act._

_No. Something is wrong._

_“Of course, there is, your brother is dying.”_

_The VOICE was so close now. I want to cry._

_‘No.’_

_“I can give you what you want. Don’t you want to tell me what it is?”_

_‘Just let me keep my brother safe!’_

_I would cry if I could._

**_“I can do that, but I will need something in return.”_ **

_‘I don’t care, take it!’_

**_“Do we have a deal?”_ **

_‘YES, yes, do it already!’_

_It hurts! I can feel it digging into me and it hurts so bad and then-_

_I can move. I have arms and legs and I can move again._

_But around me, the wood is dark._

_Too late._

**_‘Not yet.’_ **

_The VOICE is quieter now, it’s coming from the inside._

_I hate it._

_‘I kept my promise, look.’_

_I want to die._

_‘Just look.’_

_Willard is gone._

_‘Stop being a drama queen, and he will be.’_

_What?! I’m standing in front of a dying fire, of course he is!_

_‘See that?’_

_A yellow light in between the small cyan flames_.

_I can tell it’s important. So very important._

_‘Grab it, quick!’_

_I’m reaching for it, no fear of being burnt, just NEED to get that light._

_‘Got you.’_

_The light is fire, it is life and joy, but also fear and almost-death._

_‘It will go out if you hold it like this.’_

_Just like dad’s lantern would._

_‘That’s a good idea. What did it look like?’_

_I’m thinking very hard on it, but I don’t see how this helps-_

_‘Something like this?’_

_Oh. There it is, down at my feet. Something just like that. I nod and pick it up._

_‘There we go. Now put it inside and you’ll be good.’_

_I place the life-joy-good-light inside. It burns just a bit brighter than before._

_He isn’t going to die tonight. Or ever again._

_Once was enough._

_A quick succession of images, a snowy landscape, Will drawing a picture and a sudden BANG-_

 

And that’s where he shook himself, scooped up the paper and headed out quickly and quietly, to not wake their parents.

When he was halfway up the stairs, he heard Will at the top and looked up at him. Absentmindedly, he noted the piece of paper he had with him as well.

“Hey.” he said quietly, relieved despite knowing Will was fine now. “I really need to talk to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, I had to cut it there.  
> If I hadn't, it would have been a very short chapter or way too long ^_^'


	34. ...- Revelations of the Night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I really hope this is not the chapter where everyone starts to hate me, but here you go!   
> Freshly written, and now I have no more chapters lined up for during my paper :D What fun TT_TT
> 
> Lots of dialoguw ahead.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Holly~♥

_“Hey.” he said quietly, relieved despite knowing Will was fine now. “I really need to talk to you.”_

Will nodded at him and backed away when Clifford climbed up the rest of the stairs. “I think I do as well.”

Once they were in his brother’s room and Will shut the door, he heard Will sighed. “Doesn’t it feel like every time we have a talk recently, it’s always bad news?”

“You have bad news?” Clifford seated himself on his twin's bed.

“You don’t?” Will raised a brow. When he didn’t receive an answer he nodded. “There you go.” He sat down next to Clifford.

For a moment, the brothers fell silent and Clifford fixed his gaze on the papers they both had.

“Do you want to go first, or-…?” he folded his own paper in half.

Will chuckled nervously. “We both have a piece of paper, why don’t we just switch them?”

Clifford sighed and shook his head. “I don’t think that will make it any easier.”

His brother looked at his own paper. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Do you wanna start-”

“I already asked.”

“Oh. Right. So-…” Will grimaced suddenly, an annoyed look on his face.

After another pause, Clifford cleared his throat. “I can just start.”

“Please do.” He looked very uncomfortable.

For a moment, he struggled to find the right words. “When we were still in the coma, I think you died. Or came very close to it.”

Will raised a brow. “Uuhm, yeah. I kind of figured.”

“How?!”

“That, er, would be my… I don’t want to say problem, because that would be rude, but yeah, that’s related to- …my thing.” At Clifford’s confused look, he quickly shook his head. “But really, don’t let me distract you, go on.”

“If you say so.” He rolled his eyes, slightly amused at his twin's attempts to delay talking about his own problems. “I told you about the memories that don’t fit, right? The ones about the forest?”

His brother nodded.

“I think they might be some life-after-death thing. In one of the memories, you actually said that, when we were there. And I know that sounds silly, but the bell thing actually made me realize that I’ve seen both Wirt and Greg in that place as well. And Cordelia, but she left, probably because she woke up a short while after the accident? I don’t actually know, but-…” he trailed off, then shook his head. “I’m sorry. This sounds so crazy when I say it out loud, but… this-” he lifted the paper in his hand. “I just… had another one, and I don’t know how, but I wrote it down. Don’t.” he held it out of reach when Will tried to take it off him. “This is…. I don’t know. I don’t know what happened. You were dying, burning, and something was happening to me and-”

“What.” Will frowned.

“Yes, I know it sounds insane, but-”

“I- not you- wait- argh!” Will groaned and shook his head. “Clifford, that wasn’t meant for you, I just- okay, essentially it appears you are right, but- This is what I wanted to talk about with you, so it’s great that we’re all here and we can talk about your problem there-“ he gestured in his older twin’s general direction. “- while also having my troubles be in the discussion. So.” He sighed and closed his eyes.

Clifford couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but… _something_ changed then.

“You are right, in a way, that you were in a place where souls- and all the junk that’s connected- end up after an event that puts their respective bodies into a position that makes them unable to support them.”

As his brother talked, Clifford has slowly scooted away from him and now sat at the foot end of the bed. “….I have several questions now.”

“You get three, but Will might answer more.”

“And now there’s more.” He wouldn’t have thought that coming upstairs this evening would make him more confused than staying in his room, but apparently, he was wrong. He tried to pick one of the many questions bouncing around in his head at the moment.

“Why are talking about yourself in third person? It makes me very uncomfortable.”

“Because your brother never had a personality disorder, he just had me. Two questions.”

That didn’t answer his question. Clifford thought hard about what question to ask next, but in the end decided on the most pressing one. “Who are you?”

“A reluctant part of-…” he shrugged and gestured at himself. “-this collaboration. You don’t need a name. One left.”

He frowned. Three questions were entirely too little if the information he got from them was so limited, but he might as well try. “Why do you know what happened in that place?”

“Because I was there.” The other raised a brow at him.

“That’s not helpful.” His brain was racing, and he recalled the conversations he’d had with Will about the first day of school and about his brother’s worries whether or not his other personality – who must be the one talking to him at the moment – was a good person or not.

“My brother thinks you might be a bad person.”

“I’m not.” A smirk spread across the others face, and Clifford’s brows pulled together. Apparently, a conversation beyond the three questions was still possible. That smirk unsettled him, too.

“Not a bad person, or not a person at all?”

The smirk widened into a grin. “I like you.”

He took that as a confirmation of the latter. It seemed direct questions were the way to go after all.

Then, the other sighed. “Will thinks I’m upsetting you. I’m not, am I?” his stare challenged him to say otherwise.

“A bit.” He crossed his arms. “Are you harming Will?”

“Tsk.” The others eye twitched and his shoulders shifted a bit. All of a sudden, the _something_ happened again. “I’m sorry.” said Will, frowning. “I’m fine, it’s just. I didn’t know how to tell you, and he was being an impatient buttface.”

An almost-laugh escaped Clifford. “What exactly _were_ you trying to tell me? Either of you? Because all I got from that was that your other half is definitely not good and not a person, so please enlighten me to what is actually happening.”

“He’s a demon, and he’s sorta possessing me. Sometimes.”

Clifford deadpanned. “Sure.”

He was well aware that he wasn’t one to talk, with his whole life-after-death idea, but he still found some things a little hard to believe. “Just because one of your personalities is bad, doesn’t mean he’s a demon.”

“That wasn’t what I meant!” Will slapped his paper down on the mattress. “This is what my brain looks like right now. Or at least, in some way.”

Clifford looked over the picture and shook his head. “He’s just another part of you, Will, he’s not separate.”

“Yes he is! Just- Then why does he know about that other place? The Unknown?”

“The wha-?” Clifford paused. He knew exactly what his brother meant. That was what that place was called, wasn’t it?

“The Unknown. Bi- he said that’s what it was called.” Will paused for moment, as if listening, and Clifford wondered if he was actually having an internal conversation with his other personality. “It’s a place where souls go when their bodies are too damaged, but still alive. The extent of the damage influences the shape the soul takes when it arrives.” His brows furrowed. “…He says we were trees?”

Clifford nodded numbly. This all added up with what he had gathered from his memory fragments so far, but he wasn’t quite buying it yet. “The doctors said he is the personality that protects your psyche. He might have all your memories, so you don’t have to live with them.” Clifford frowned. Will had burned to death. That can’t be good for one’s psyche.

“They also said I should have died from the damage. The thing that threw me off when you told me about the burning was that _he_ told me that that was him.”

“What do you mean?”

 _Something_ shifted.

“The moment your brother’s soul caught fire was the moment I entered his mind. The only reason why he’s still here, is because of you and that deal you made with the Voiders.” He lifted his right hand. “This is me talking, by the way, your brother is left-handed.”

“I know who’s talking. What’s a Voider?”

“You do?” He looked surprised.

“Will acts differently. You are…. something else. I know my brother, and I know the difference. What is a Voider?” he repeated.

“Hmm, interesting. They make sure the Unknown doesn’t overflow. A soul that comes into prolonged contact with a Voider becomes strongly attached to a single thing, which they will pursue without regards to any other souls in the Unknown, oftentimes even going out of their way to destroy other souls. Just like you did.” Another shift.  Will looked positively scandalized. “Excuse me?”

“….I think I tried to keep you alive.” He rubbed his temples. There was so much information being thrown at him, and he was getting a headache from all of it. “Alright then, I guess I believe you. Anything else you want to tell me?”

Will thought for a moment. “He can kind of see everything that’s happening nearby, and sometimes decides to show me stuff that I’d have to turn around for usually.” He paused. “Also, Mabel kinda knows.”

“What?!” Clifford frowned, feeling insulted. He told Mabel before he told his own brother?

“I didn’t tell her!” Will defended. “She figured out on her own, when I lost my necklace on that rollercoaster last week. B- The demon got kind of… exited, I guess? The stone kept him from doing anything, so he took over my body completely. Actually,” he added dryly. “If it wasn’t for Mabel figuring it out and threatening him, we wouldn’t have reached our agreement and I’m sure I wouldn’t have ever gotten my body back.”

“He’s evil.” Clifford stated more than asked.

“I honestly can’t tell if he is or isn’t. He’s not really bothered with anything that doesn’t concern his own well-being, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily evil.”

Will sighed and flopped down into his pillow. Clifford, now relaxing a little from the tension a few minutes before, grabbed the comforter and piled it behind him against the wall so he could lay back as well.

“So, in conclusion.” He started. “You are possessed by a demon, or at least halfway, he was the one who killed you in my memories and he’s probably evil. Did I get that right?”

“He also sees thing I can’t, knows a lot more than I should – including the stuff about that unknown place – and Dipper and Mabel hate him for some reason he won’t give me.”

Oh, well. So essentially, the thing that had bothered Clifford earlier this evening was something Will had not only known about, but was also fairly okay with. His shoulders sagged. “All of a sudden, I feel like my problems are a lot less….” he searched for a fitting word.

“Don’t.” Will grimaced. “Just because I’m more vocal when there’ something wrong doesn’t make your own problems less significant. It just makes you the less whinier one.” He joked.

“You’re not whiny.”

“I feel like it, though. Especially now, considering that… without his intervention, I would have died that day. Or at least, my body would have? It’s very confusing and he’s being vague just to irritate me. What I’m trying to say is that I think whatever you did saved the rest of me.”

Clifford nodded slowly. “Thank you.”

“You got it wrong, I’m supposed to say that.”

“I’m sorry.” He smiled weakly.

“Wrong again, I think you’re looking for ‘You’re welcome’, bro.” he teased, a slight smirk on his lips.

This time, he managed to make Clifford laugh. “Alright then, you’re welcome.”

They fell into silence, each contemplating what the evening had brought to their attention and simply enjoying their newfound stability stemming from another person who was aware of their troubles.

“It’s late.” Clifford said, the statement carrying the connotation that he would have to leave soon.

“It’s also Friday.” His twin offered. “There is an old mattress in the laundry room.” He gestured at the wall where his wardrobe stood.

“I’ll go get it.” Clifford yawned, but made no move to actually stand up and do so.

“When you do, it’s behind a bunch of plastic bags with stuffed animals, it’s a small one, so that’s probably why mom and dad didn’t remember it.”

Clifford furrowed his brows at his younger twin. “Is that-… the thing with the seeing stuff you told me about?” if there had been one thing in his story he’d been doubting after their talk, it would have been this.

“Yeah. I’ve never spotted them before actually, they’re in a corner and not those bright blue bags, but dark grey ones, so they didn’t quite register.”

“Is the mattress in a condition that allows me to actually sleep on it?”

“Yeah, I think? The bags are all over it, so it shouldn’t be too dusty.” He sighed and stood. “Why don’t we go check?”

 

\-------------------

 

As it turned out, with a spare blanket over it the mattress was just fine to sleep on. They did have a laugh at one point, when they realized they still had to get Clifford’s blankets from downstairs, but soon enough, they were both lying awake under their sheets - lights out except for the small one on his nightstand - and having a quiet talk.

“I’m not!” Will protested Clifford’s claim.

“Are too. Or did you have to study at all for school apart from the tutoring sessions?” He chuckled.

“Well, no. But that’s because of the knowledge I get from B- the demon. If it wasn’t for that I’d have to study just as much as you.”

“It’s still frustrating, you’re better at pretty much everything. You get along great with people, you have no trouble with your academic stuff either and now you got this x-ray vision of yours.”

“It’s not x-ray vision.” He grimaced.

**‘Never thought of it that way, but it seems like an adequate explanation for more simple-minded folks.’**

“And I’m not better at everything at all. You’re way more in shape than I am, I hate going outdoors and you go and just fix up the garden?”

“That isn’t all that much-”

“And you remember things from when we were little! You don’t think that’s something that doesn’t bother me? I get along with the others, sure, but then Cordy or Dennis make a remark about something I don’t even remember and they get all awkward until I’m able to snap them out of it. Also, you forget that I’m stuck with a demon in my head for quite possibly the rest of my life. And the general public will just see it as a strange case of DID. So yeah, I think you got it better. You can play the violin.” He added as an afterthought.

“On an amateur level, sure, but you-…” he trailed off then sighed. “Nevermind, you’re right. I get your point. Just because we do some things better or have problems somewhere doesn’t make us better or worse.”

“It just makes us different.” He confirmed. Hearing his brother being so hard on himself had been surprising, since he had been worried he wasn’t doing enough.

‘I know I hide away in my room a lot, but I’m just not as active as Clifford is.’

**‘You’re too concerned with others.’ Bill grumbled.**

‘You’ve been pretty quiet the past few minutes.’

**‘I was busy.’**

**Busy flinging back all the concrete – literally concrete, and really hard to miss – feelings of** _Care_ **that welled up during that conversation.**

**‘It would be great if you’d learn to keep things to yourself. I don’t need all your emotions cluttering up my half of our Mindscape.’**

‘You talk a lot about that, but you don’t really tell me _how_ to do it.’ Will argued back.

**While that was true, he still feigned annoyance and groaned. ‘Just meditate. As soon as possible, so we can put this mess behind us?’**

‘Tomorrow then.’

“You’re having a talk?” Clifford spoke up.

“Yeah.” Will raised a brow. “How could you tell?”

“You get … a very particular sort of quietness when you do. It’s different when you’re just thinking, but I just get this feeling that something else is happening.”

“Do you think that’s a twin thing? That you can tell the difference between us? Mabel had no clue who was talking when we had our …talk… this Monday.”

“Perhaps? I can’t remember everything, but from what I do recall – and also what mom and dad told us – we have always been close. Maybe I just _know_ you.”

“Hmm. Maybe.” Will yawned and darted a look at his clock. If it was a school night, they would have to get up in three hours. “Urgh. I’m so gonna sleep in tomorrow.”

“Like you always do?” Clifford teased.

“Haha.”

After a moment of silence, his older twin spoke up again. “Can you ask-… The demon knows about the Unknown, right?”

“I guess?”

Bill had only said a few things about the general concept of the place, but nothing more that he hadn’t told Clifford.

**‘I was only there for a few minutes at most to get to your Mindscape. I would have preferred to not go in at all, but circumstances didn’t allow it.’**

Will sighed out loud. “He’s never gonna tell me anything concrete.” He clearly felt a wave of **Smugness** rolling over him that wasn’t his at all.

‘Yeah, yeah. Shut up.’

“Can you ask him if he knows why Wirt was there?”

**“I have no idea. I only know that he enabled you to finally leave that dump.” Bill answered out loud. It was bad enough having to answer Will’s questions, but the alternative was having a constant barrier of mistrust and sheer idiocy between them. And sadly, he seemed to consider his brother almost as part of himself.**

“Hm. Alright.”

Will could nearly hear the gears turning in his twin’s head. “Don’t think about it too much. You’ll never get any sleep.” His last sentence was underlined by a long yawn.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to keep you up.”

“You’re the one who usually goes to sleep before midnight. I’m okay, you’re the one who should go to sleep.”

“Alright then. Good Night.”

“Night.”

They still laid awake in silence for a long time before finally falling asleep.


	35. First Considerations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Another chapter freshly served up! I am trying to write through this cocksucker of a writer's block (excuse my french), but fucking hell, I'm dying Q-Q  
> And then there's that paper I should also be writing...  
> I sincerely hope I won't have to skip another weekly update, but if it comes to that, I will try to compensate with something, either a bigger chapter after two weeks or a small teaser instead of a whole chapter on Sunday (I actually hate those, but...)
> 
> But for now, enjoy this WHOLE chapter.  
> See you next week! (hopefully!)
> 
> Holly ~♥

“Hey Clifford, did you have breakfast already?”

He looked up from the books on his desk to stare flatly at Will, who was standing in his door. He took a look at the time, then said:

“It’s 2 PM. We had breakfast at ten.”

“Yeah. Okay. Do you know when lunch is?”

“Ask mom. I’d guess around four, but I don’t know for sure.” He turned back to his studying and continued with the equations for math.

“Alright. Can I come other you afterwards?”

“I’m studying.”

“Can I help?”

Clifford looked up again. “If you want to, that would help, thank you.”

Will nodded and closed the door again, probably heading downstairs to find either of their parents. The older twin continued with his work for half an hour before Will returned. He had changed his clothes and his hair was wet, so he must have taken a shower during that time.

“I had some yoghurt, lunch isn’t until five-ish. What are you doing?”

“Math, what else.”

“Can I see?” he walked up to the desk and looked through the few pages full of scribbled practice tasks he’d already done.

It turned out studying together was a very good idea for both of them. Not only did Will – or more often, the demon - help Clifford by correcting the mistakes he’d made, the latter mostly by just pointing out his flaws, the other by giving him ways to solve the equations in different ways.  

But he could also see that Will was having fun. He knew that at times, his twin liked to lock himself up in the attic, as far away from other people as possible and lose himself in the various games and videos he liked so much, just as Clifford himself did with his garden, music and the occasional story or two. So, it was nice to spend some time with him and he had a few laughs over Will’s reaction to his very different ways of studying.

Which started with learning in the first place, so really, he had _a lot_ of laughs.

“What do you even need this for?” Will gestured at his flash card box for German.

“To keep the vocabulary memorized.”

“But it’s right there, you just need to look at it.” he looked over a few cards.

Clifford laughed and took them off him to put them back in the proper slots. “Yes, but that doesn’t last very long. If I ask you now what flower means in German-”

“Blume”

“- yes, but if I asked you one of the other ones later today, you may have forgotten them already. That’s what this system is for. I keep writing them down so I remember them for longer. If I do it right, they move up a slot, if I get them wrong they move down.”

“But it’s right _there_!” Will looked so confused.

Clifford actually had a lot of fun explaining the study methods to his twin, despite knowing he’d probably never use them.

They hadn’t even noticed the time passing and soon their father called them downstairs for lunch. Afterwards, Clifford went outside for a while to work in the garden - just watering a few of the plants – and was pleasantly surprised when Will came out as well to offer his help.

Even though he did start whining after a few minutes, in a way he almost felt guilty about, he felt proud of the proof that he could do some things better than Will. Which may have been his brother’s intention in ‘helping’, he figured as he watched him plant a few flowers way to close to each other.

“Your spacing is off, let me do it.” he said with a grin and Will scooted over to let him at the plants.

At last, they sat down on the veranda and Clifford nudged Will with his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Eh, I think I wasn’t that much of a help.”

“I meant for trying stuff I like to do. Don’t think I didn’t figure that out.”

“You actually like studying?”

“A bit, yes. I like learning more than studying, but it sort of goes hand-in-hand.”

Then, both their phones signified a message.

**_ The Triple F’s  <3 _ **

**_Cordelia, 4:56 PM:_** _omg you guys i thnk i have an idea!_

 ** _Cordelia, 4:56 PM:_** _for the group name :D_

 ** _Mabel, 4:56 AM:_** _what is it?_

 **_Cordelia, 4:58 PM:_ ** _we are the elite! Im writing this story where I sorta let the charas be inspired from people I know, and there is this group called The Elite, and all the charas based off of us are in it._

 **_Dennis, 4:58 PM:_ ** _In what way are they based on us?_

 **_Will, 4:58 PM:_ ** _sounds good though_

“What do you think?”

Clifford looked over. “It’s just a group name, I don’t get why it needed to change or why it took so long in the first place.”

“You don’t get it!” he whined. “It’s our group's name, that’s important that it’s good and fitting.”

 

 **_Dipper, 4:58 PM:_ ** _In what way are they based on us?_

 **_Will, 4:58 PM:_ ** _Clifford doesn’t get it xD he thinks its not important_

**_Cordelia, 5:00 PM: ther’s  things like names, like theyre called Aida (my second name is Aiden), Bob (I’m sorry), William or Host (which is a nickname, no one knows his real one), or the less obvious where some people just act like you guys do._ **

**_Cordelia, 5:00 PM: whaaaat, Clifford! D:_ **

**_Clifford, 5:00 PM:_** _I don’t see why it took so long, that is._

**_Mabel, 5:01 PM: That sound cool! Also Clifford, booo xP The name is great!_ **

**_Dennis, 5:01 PM: I hate you Deli go burn in hell_ **

**_Clifford, 5:01 PM:_** _I never said it was bad, it sounds great._

**_Will, 5:01 PM: He doesn’t think it’s important to have a great group name._ **

_**Cordelia changed ‘The Triple F’s <3’ to ‘The Elite’** _

**_Cordelia, 5:01 PM: There :D_ **

**_Mabel, 5:01 PM: Why, Dennis?_ **

**_Dennis, 5:01 PM: She knows I hate my middle name_ **

**_Dipper, 5:02 PM:_ ** _Your middle name is Bob?_

**_Mabel, 5:02 PM: I feel for you q-q_ **

**_Dennis, 5:02 PM: technically it’s Bobby, but that’s even worse >:(_ **

**_Clifford, 5:02 PM:_** _Who is Host?_

**_Dennis, 5:03 PM: Oh, I helped with that one. In German, a host is called Wirt_ **

**_Mabel, 5:03 PM: wow, neat!_ **

 

“Boys?” Annie appeared in the veranda door. “Dinner is almost done.” She looked out and let her gaze wander over the garden. “It’s a nice day out, do you want to eat outside?”

“Sure!” Will nodded and put away his phone, Clifford following suit.

“Then quick, help me get the dishes out.”

Apparently, the table had already been set, so they just needed to carry everything outside. Dinner consisted of stuffed cabbage, which Will seemed wary of at first, but it turned out to be something they both enjoyed. Sam apologized profusely for forgetting to make any side dishes, but no one complained.

“So, your grandparents are getting a little unbearable.” Sam joked.

“Why?” Clifford asked, Will simply shot a questioning glance.

“They haven’t seen you for quite the long while. In fact, the last time I recall my mother visiting, she was complaining more about her own health than being worried for you, and that was 2013.” Annie said in a biting tone. Then she sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, but she has been awful about this. When I told her you had been awake for a while, she wouldn’t hear my explanation and was convinced I didn’t tell her because I don’t care about her or her feelings for her grandchildren. Which weren’t very obvious.”

“They do love you, but both your grandparents have these little ticks and quirks that drive me and your mom respectively up the wall.” Sam noted. “Where Clara is distancing herself and pushing the blame for that on others-”

“I hate when she does that.” Annie groaned.

“- Carla had to be forcibly removed from the hospital five times in the first two months you spent there, and actually got a threat of being banned a year later, so now she just complains about ‘those old arseholes’ and calls us every week or so about an update on you two. Which we have been lying about for the past two months, so when I told her during her last call, she was just about ready to immediately hop onto a plane and come over.”

“The point is,” Annie distracted Sam from the beginning of his ranting. “they’re getting pushy and we offered a family reunion before your birthday. I hope it’s okay, we arranged it for the weekend before Halloween? We know Dennis is having a party next week, which was the first suggestion, but we bought ourselves another week. The schools Halloween party is on that Wednesday, right?”

Clifford nodded. “Thank you, I don’t think I’d be able to handle a lot of people at once.”

“We wanted to get your opinion too, honestly.” Sam grimaced. “But my sister sort of pulled the planning out of our hands when the word reunion fell. Now it’s both your grandparents, our siblings and their kids and partners, as well as their kid’s children in case of my sister’s side of the family.”

Will groaned.

“My thoughts exactly.” Sam nodded sagely.

“That’s not it, I don’t even know who is who!”

“Oh!” Annie sprang up from the table. “Sorry, I know we’re eating, but-” she didn’t finish and quickly went inside.

“Do you know…?” Will gestured in their mom’s direction with a questioning glance at Sam.

“I think she’s getting the family tree we made for you two, I completely forgot about that.” He chuckled.

“Here!” Annie returned quickly, handing each of them a sheet of paper

“Woah.” Will’s eyes went wide and Clifford stared down at his own family tree, mildly horrified. He could see Will learning it all quickly, but just as well, he could see himself standing between people who all knew him at one point with a cheat sheet in hand because he couldn’t remember who was who.

“It’s not as complicated as it looks, I promise.” Annie smiled encouragingly. “The ones we put in blue are the ones who married your cousins, there was too little room to put them beside each other." She paused for a moment. "We haven’t told them all about your amnesia – even though I fear your grandparents may have been gossiping – but we can tell them, so no one will fault you for not recalling them.”

For the next hour or so, the family sat in the garden and their parents told them about each of their relatives, their jobs or hobbies or little things they did together when the twins were little. Within no time at all, the sun was starting to go down and everyone in the Taylor household retired for the night.

 

\----------------------------

 

Monday morning came with the all familiar ringing of two alarms at once for Will. He groaned and flipped over to reach for his phone, only to over calculate and fall off his bed.

‘Fuck. I hate Mondays.’

He shut off both his mobile and landline phone alarm, then heaved himself back up and rolled up in his sheets.

The second alarm woke him from the edge of sleep five minutes later. Just as he shut them off, the landline rang once more and he picked it up.

“I know, I know.” He yawned.

“Good morning to you too. It’s 7:20, you have half an hour before we leave.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a mild panic set in, but he simply was too tired to care. “I knooooww.” He groaned. “I’ll be there. See ya.” He hung up and forced himself to sit up in bed.

He might be a night owl, but he was not going to stay up past 1 AM again on a school night.

Somehow he actually managed to get ready for school in time, even though he did have to hurry with his breakfast and found himself eating his toasts in the car.

“Good luck on your tests!” Annie bid them goodbye when she dropped them off.

‘Oh, right.’ He must have made a face of some kind, because Clifford shook his head.

“You seriously forgot?”

“No!”

“We have the math test now. Just in case you did.” Clifford smirked.

“I didn’t forget, I just…. misplaced the information.” He pouted as they joined the masses entering the school building.

Will later decided that Clifford would hate him after this. He hadn’t studied at all aside from their little study session on Saturday, and yet he somehow managed everything way too easily. And surprisingly, he didn’t even need Bills assistance all too often. The images of the relevant passages from the school’s textbooks simply sprang up in his mind’s eye when he needed them.

‘That is not normal, right?’ he asked after putting down his pencil and burying his face in his hands, only half an hour after the test began.

**‘Some humans have this thing called photographic memory.’**

‘Is that what this is?’

**‘No.’ Bill snickered. ‘But if anyone asks, that’s roughly what it is.’**

‘I hate you.’

The rest of the time, Will busied himself with doodling little monsters on the back of his test paper. At some point, a thought came to him.

‘What do you look like? Did you have your own body, or something? You say you’re a demon, but I don’t know what you look like.’ And, to be honest, the image that came to mind was-

**‘Way off base.’ Bill frowned at the conglomeration of different movies representations of demons and devils. He deliberated for a few moments, then sent an image back over to Will.**

In the past, Will had had a hard time figuring out whether he just had a very strange thought by himself or if Bill had sent it over. By now, he could discern far better who which thought or image came from, and what the demon had just sent almost caused him to burst into laughter in the middle of the test. Instead, he bit his lip and choked silently on repressed giggles.

‘You’re a fucking Dorito!’

**‘Doesn’t look too intimidating, right? Makes people a lot less wary of you.’**

This mellowed Will somewhat. ‘You’re… I don’t even know.’

**‘Good.’ He said smugly. ‘You’re not supposed to, technically.’**

Something clicked in the back of his mind. ‘Oh my god, the fucking bowtie.’

He hadn’t worn that particular choker for a while, mostly since it looked a little odd with the aquamarine necklace.

**‘You should, though, it looked good on you.’**

‘I hate you.’ He groaned mentally as so many little instances came back up again. That lighter he got himself at the trampoline park, the little doodles he did that consisted mostly of triangles, the way he picked his clothes to be mostly yellow and black-

**‘No, you don’t.’ When the teacher called the test to a close, Will was still lost in thought, so he mentally shrugged, stood up and handed in their test before walking to the door, intending to wait for Clifford in front of the classroom.**

‘Woah, there, where are you going?’ Will stopped dead in his tracks, almost making someone run into him.

**‘I was going outside to wait for your brother. It’s stifling in here.’ He mentally rolled his eyes. The aquamarine may have lost almost all its power, but it still _helped_ Will _limit_ his control over their body. And even though he only really did it when he actually _wanted_ to, it was annoying to be stopped right in the middle of something. **

**On the other hand, it was hilarious to him that Mabel was unaware that essentially, the stone itself did nothing at all without being charged.**

‘Oh, sorry.’ Splitting control like that was not as disorienting as it was that first day when Mabel confronted them, but he still had a sort of blur in his memory when Bill did something as opposed to doing it himself. He would not forget what happened entirely, but he had a certain nonchalance about what happened in the time spans Bill took over and he felt a little uncomfortable with that.

**‘Don’t be like that, I was literally just walking out of the class because you didn’t realize the test was over.’**

‘Sorry.’ Will shook his head and joined up with his twin to walk down to the school yard.

“How did it go?” Clifford asked.

“You’ll hate me.”

“I saw you doodle somewhere around an hour after it started, when I was still doing the equations, so I think I have an idea.”

“Half an hour.”

Clifford shook his head.

“Sorry.” Will

“Don’t be, we both have our own strengths and weaknesses, right?” he offered a smile.

“Yeah. Thanks, bro.”

The others all asked how their tests went as well, especially Dipper and Wirt, who would write their own math test later that day. After being bothered for specifics on the test for the better part of the break, Cordy and Mabel intervened and redirected the topic.

“What are you going as for the Halloween party?”

An unbidden image of a Dorito came to mind.

**‘NO.’**

He finally gave in to the laughter that had been building up during the test.

Clifford shot him an amused look. “Apparently as something funny.”

“You- don’t get it!” Will choked. “It’s not something to be _got_ , it’s just- ahahah- I- I just had a – a really funny idea - which I won’t do, don’t worry -“ he added with a mental poke at the grumbling demon. “It’s just- hah- just a funny image.” He took a deep breath, which was still interrupted by a few stray giggles.

“You wanna share?” Cordy asked.

“You wouldn’t get it, though!” he whined. “It’s sort of an inside joke.” He tried very hard to not dart a glance at Mabel, but he wasn’t quite sure he managed it. “And other than that, no idea, what are you dressing as?”

“I got this cosplay I wanted to try out, I actually got the last few pieces I needed for it last week.” She beamed. “It’s a surprise, although I might have to ask the school if certain props are allowed.”

“Just don’t ask!” Mabel suggested with a grin. “You can claim you couldn’t have _possibly_ known, and they can’t send you back _now_ , right?”

“I like that.” She laughed. “What about you boys?”

A shrug came from Wirt, Dipper, and Dennis at once. They shared a look and shrugged again.

“We could dig out the last Summerween costume?” Mabel suggested to Dipper.

“What?” Wirt’s brows furrowed.

“Summerween.” Dipper explained. “It’s a sort of second Halloween that’s celebrated in our great uncles’ hometown. We visit them every summer.”

Clifford hummed thoughtfully. “I have no idea what to dress up as either.” A short laugh escaped him. “Perhaps a tree?”

Will punched him in the shoulder. “Shut up, that’s awful!”

 **Bill saw Wirt look mildly sickly for moment. Honestly, he was interested to watch that play out. Either Clifford or Wirt were going to ask some very uncomfortable questions at some point and he was certain it would lead to utter chaos. He felt Will send a small bit of** _Interest_ **and** _Confusion_ **at his own pre-chaos _Glee_. ‘It’s nothing.’**

When the bell rang, the group returned to their classes, now with each teenager wondering what to dress up as for Halloween. Will and Clifford especially, since they hadn’t had to think about this at all until now. The others at least had memories of past Halloweens to go off of to decide what costumes were good ideas.

In their second break, Will brought this up and suddenly, they were deep into a discussion on proper Halloween costume customs.

It was towards the end of the break when Will saw Wirt pull aside Clifford for a talk. He tried to keep an ear on both the discussion and their conversation, but had to give up at some point. Cordy, on the other hand, was very amused by Wirt’s stammering and at one point she simply cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled gleefully.

“Get a room!”

“No!” Wirt shrieked as she devolved into giggles. “Oh god, why would you-?” he made a choking noise.

Clifford looked as confused as Will felt as he said: “I have a room, Cordelia.”

For some reason, this made Mabel join her in even louder laughter. “Oh _hell_ yeah, I was _right_!” she giggled.

“What is going on?” Will mumbled as Wirt protested and Clifford looked as lost as ever.

**‘Get a room, as in: Get a room to snog in. It’s very childish, really.’**

‘What, she thinks my brother and Wirt-…?’ He made a face. ‘They’re just friends.’

**‘People have been shipped for far less than that.’**

‘I don’t get it.’

**‘Good. If you did, you would have been too far gone.’**

‘But that’s so weird.’ He looked over his friends. ‘That would be like, what, me going out with...' He looked for a viable candidate. '...Mabel?’

**‘Stop.’**

He grinned. ‘I mean, she is kinda cute.’

**‘Stop this right now oh my stars no.’**

Will let out a soft chuckle as he cast a look at Mabel and Cordy laughing and holding each other up. ‘Don’t worry, I think Cordy would kill me.’

**‘What?’**

‘I think she has a crush on Mabel.’

Stunned silence.

‘You didn’t notice that?!’

**‘I don’t pay attention to such trivialities!’**

Will kept bickering with Bill as they walked to class, the demon thoroughly distracted by the suggestion Will had made.

 **The actual problem was that Bill was currently more distracted by cleaning out all the little bits and pieces of** _Interest_ **and** _Affection_ **that had jumped over to his side when Will had remarked on Mabel being cute. Which weren’t just about Mabel, as he found, since Will had at least subconsciously noticed that she and her twin did indeed share similarities.**

**To say he was frustrated was putting it mildly.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Thanks to TomHuppe for pointing out that Annie is not her husbands' mom and can therefore not be the one who sprung up from the table xD


	36. Foul Line and Gutter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I'm cutting it close today, but I'm still wrangling this monster they call Writers Block. I won't give up!
> 
> Foul Line and Gutter are each Bowling terms, the Foul Line being the Line that determines a Foul when stepped over. Seemed obvious in hindsight. And every amateur at bowling knows the Gutter Ball, right? xD
> 
> Enjoy!  
> Holly~♥

“Can you hand me the tape please?” Clifford gestured over to where Will was wrapping his gift for Dennis.

“M-hmm.” He hummed and handed it over.

This evening, three days after his _actual_ birthday on the 17 th, Dennis was going to throw his birthday party at a nearby bowling alley. They were going to go to his house afterwards for the sleepover. Dennis was the oldest in their group, something they hadn’t even realized until he told them on his actual birthday that he was nineteen now. The rest of their group were all 18.

Will and Clifford had had very different opinions on what could be a good birthday present, and their parents and friends input hadn’t helped much. Although it was – in a way - reassuring that as long as there was a present, there wasn’t much one could do wrong.

 _“It’s the thought that counts.”_ Sam had said.

Therefore, while Will had gotten Dennis a sort of Choose Your Own Adventure type of book which was for more mature readers, something about dragons and elves. The twins had both been amazed at the discovery of their old collection of the children’s book series, which had still been in the basement, and Will was currently obsessed enough with them that he actually migrated downstairs and was now more often than not found on the couch in the living room, reading.

It was probably not a bad idea for a present, but Clifford had had a different – and in his opinion better – idea.

A few weeks ago, Dennis had remarked after school that he was thinking about starting to play Dungeons, Dungeons and more Dungeons. Clifford recalled his parents talking about it once, so he’d asked them what it was and if it would be a good idea for a present.

 “There!” Will stepped back proudly and surveyed his work. Clifford looked up as well. For the first time wrapping a gift, it did seem alright. It looked like what they’d found on the Wikihow page, at least.

And there had been a multitude of ways to do that too.

Clifford put the finishing touches on the bow he was tying around the box, then nodded to himself. “What time is it?”

“Around 4.”

So they still had half an hour before they had to leave. For a moment, a thick silence settled in the kitchen.

“Do we _need_ anything for bowling?” Clifford dared to ask.

“How am I supposed to know?” Will seemed a little worried for a moment, then **he** shook his head. “Just if you’re obsessed. Anything the regular customers need gets provided by the alley.”

Clifford frowned. “I still don’t like you.”

“Not many people do.”

Telling the difference between the two had become easier for him to do, mostly because he was now aware that there was indeed a change in his twin's demeanour that was subtle enough to miss if you weren’t looking for it.

And he was looking, now. Constantly.

Clifford may have made a promise to not be _over_ protective about Will, but this was _regular_ protective and he was well within his rights to be worried. Even if, so far, the demon hadn’t done much more than scare the living daylights out of him twice and possibly help Will cheat during tests - he wasn’t really sure about that one.

Will sighed. “He’s fine, bro. We’re _fine_.”

“Yes, yes.” He pulled a face and began to put away the wrapping paper and scissors. Together, they made quick work of the clean-up and Will excused himself to get ready. Not knowing what exactly to do now that the present had been wrapped, Clifford got himself a cup of tea from the pot he made earlier and sat down in the living room.

In a week from now, the house might be full of relatives he only very barely remembered. He had one memory of a boy around his age running barefoot through the forest – including stinging nettle - and not feeling a thing. The children were very small, he would guess he was around four, but he wasn’t quite sure. From his parent’s stories – which had been plentiful over the last week – this might have been Chris, their cousin on Annie’s side, whose family had moved to a self-supporting village which was half wilderness. From what Annie had told them, the way of life in that village was very carefree, but not careless. There was a lot of thought put into any structures that were built and what of nature was ending up on the collective plate of the community.

It wasn’t a way of life he thought he could abide to easily, but he could understand the reasoning behind it.

There were very few other memories, one of a cheerful woman sending his brother on a quest to go find a see-through stone, which Will proceeded to do with strong enthusiasm. He was roped into it as well and they looked all around the unfamiliar garden. From the photos Annie had shown them, he recognized the grin on the woman’s face to belong to Sarah, the youngest of their cousins on their father’s side.

Apart from these few memories, there was really little he knew of his family. Knowing that he had one week left was both a relief and daunting. Sure, he still had a whole seven days, but on the other hand, that was not enough at all.

And then there was Halloween and the schools costume party. He had no idea about that either. And then they had another week or so before the next round of tests would come their way and this week had been pretty tense. He really just wanted to go into the garden for a couple hours.

And then at the end of November, it was their turn to throw a birthday party. And he had no idea what Will had in mind, but he had no plans whatsoever.

He sighed into his cup and took another sip. Chamomile. Picked seemingly at random, but when he stopped to think about it, he was a little stressed out.

Still, he could just ask either his twin or their parents for help, and their friends were there for them as well.

When Will came sliding down the stairs, he emptied his cup and stood to get Sam from the study.

 

\-------

 

‘Bowling sucks.’

Will was sulking on his seat as he watched Dennis hit all but one pin. In the three rounds they played so far, he had hit a total of two pins. Nearly all of his balls had gone off to the sides.

Dennis returned to his seat and Dipper went up with a glowering look on his face.

**‘If you think so, how do you think Pinetree feels?’**

Dipper had yet to hit a single pin and was growing frustrated.

“Oh, come on.” Next to him, Mabel was crossing her fingers and mumbling encouragements.

At the end of his turn, Dipper had managed to get four pins. “At least it’s better than nothing.” He shrugged.

They had paid to play for two hours, and the first game was finished after around 40 minutes. Around the fifth turn, Will had finally gotten the hang of it, something Clifford had seemed to grasp almost immediately – having hit a strike on his second go and being ahead of Will by 17 points by the time the younger twin managed to hit even a single pin. Dennis, of course, seemed to really know what he was doing and was far ahead of all of them by the end of the game. Clifford got second place and only had a few more points than Mabel. Will found himself only a single point above Dipper, who had very clearly lost this game. They ordered some pizza and started up the next game while they waited.

Bowling still sucked, but will could at least get some of the appeal it had now.

“You know, I feel like the thing that is the most fun about this is the part where you don’t play – or fail at playing – but the sitting around and watching others fail.” He said to Dipper as they watched Cordelia miss a shot.

The other boy shot him a strange look that turned thoughtful shortly after. “I never thought about that. Maybe it is? I keep forgetting you’ve never actually played before, how is your brother so good at this?” He didn’t wait for an answer and stood up to have his turn, actually managing to leave just two pins standing.

“No idea.” Will answered when he returned. “I suppose we both have our strengths and weaknesses. I’m fine with him being good at bowling, but I would hate if I had to start learning how to study. Like he does, that is.” He added as an afterthought.

“What, you don’t study that much?”

“Err, no? Some things I just kinda _get_ …”  he trailed off.

“I have that too sometimes. Mostly for Math, not as much for languages or Art. That’s more Mabel’s thing.” He shrugged.

“Is that normal?” he tilted his head. At Dippers confused look, he elaborated. “Twins balancing each other out like that? You and Mabel are just as different as me and Clifford, so that’s always been kind of reassuring, but…” Will paused. He actually had no idea where he had been going with that. “Nevermind.”

“No, no. That’s okay, really. And you know what? I’ve actually met a pair of twins that were absolutely identical in every way, and believe me when I say that _that_ is something terrifying.” He shuddered. “Also, at least no one can say they can’t tell you and Clifford apart, I mean…” he cleared his throat. “…I sorta- didn’t really notice you were at first? Twins, I mean. Or just related, even.”

“Whaaat?” Will dragged out, then grinned. “Would you have been less of a jerk at first if you’d known?”

“Oh god, I’m sorry.” He buried his face in his hands and Will could see a hint of red on his cheeks. “Maybe? Man, I don’t know.”

“Relax, I’m just kidding.” Will snickered.

“And you’re distracted.” Cordelia poked him. “It’s your turn.”

“Whoops!” he laughed and went up to the lane.

When he returned, the conversation topic had shifted towards the upcoming Halloween party and the costume ideas they’d had so far. Cordelia was the only one who already had one, Dennis only had a rough idea of dressing up as Death, but the others were still considering.

“Well, we could just check out the stores next weekend?” Dennis suggested.

“Can’t.” Will sighed. “Our family is visiting. The _entire_ family.”

“Well, then maybe during the week?”

“Depends, when do you guys have lots of time after school?” Wirt asked.

“Thursdays?” Clifford suggested.

“Wirt and I have Gym until 3:15 then.” Cordelia shook her head. “How about Tuesday?”

“Nope, same with me and Dipper.” Will sighed. “So, when does neither of us have until 3?”

After a bit of back and forth, they agreed on Wednesday, since they were all free after 2:45 PM. During their talk, their food came and they all dug in. Somewhere in the middle of voracious silence, Will sent a thought inwards.

‘You’ve been quiet.’

The was a short moment of silence before the answer came. **‘I. Am. A little. Busy!’**

 **Because it hadn’t stopped. They were everywhere – spreading not only from Wills side of the Mindscape, but also from the little pieces of** _Affection_ **that had already drifted over that he’d missed completely. If not for that comment about Shooting Star at the beginning of the week, he would have never noticed them until it was too late.**

**It might just be too late already.**

**He grumbled to himself and pulled out a sapling to toss back over to Wills side.**

‘With what? Can you actually _do_ things in my head?’ The thought was a little disturbing, but not much more than what had happened after that visit to the fair.

 **‘I am trying.’ Pulling on another piece of** _Concern_ **wedged between his own _Wariness_ and _Defensiveness_ ‘To get you.’ Heave. ‘To keep your gross – ‘ Pulled it out. ‘-little developing feeling to _yourself_!’ And tossed it back over to his side. Next.**

‘What are you talking about?’ He smiled to himself.

**‘Oh my stars, it’s subconscious. I’m doomed.’ If he wasn’t going to acknowledge them, there was no way for the boy to keep his feelings to himself. This was going to keep going forever.**

**Unless.**

‘You’re making less sense than usual, Bill.’

 **He poked over to Will’s side. A whole pile of the** _Feelings_ **in front of him. At least those he could get rid of. Surely, Will won’t miss them.**

**He began to gather the rest of them from Will’s side. Thankfully, most of them were still in his subconscious, so there wasn’t that much to do.**

**Having them all gathered in one place, he did the only right thing.**

**He lit them up.**

Will felt himself being very suddenly very upset with Dipper. The guy was a complete jerk! Why was he even here with them? He had only invited him to get on Mabel’s good side, right? Thinking back, he had felt differently about him just a moment ago, hadn’t he? He closed his eyes to concentrate and very suddenly, something flickered behind his closed lids.

**Oh.**

He was looking at a very twisted version of himself. He was very clearly missing half of his colours – all on the left side of his body- and his eye was very clearly missing, dried blood on his right cheek. He was wearing clothes Will was sure he’d never owned, except perhaps the bowtie choker, which wasn’t quite a choker on second thought.

**‘Thank you, I try.’**

There was a pile of … _things_ … burning bright blue behind the other and he for some reason, Will felt a large _Upset_ starting somewhere in the pit of his stomach.

**‘Now listen, this is completely justified-’**

_Feelings_. ‘Those are _Feelings_ , right?’

**‘-you sent them over to my side, it’s my business how I clean my half-’**

‘They are still my _Feelings_!’ he protested. ‘What were those!?’

 **‘You’re better off not knowing.’ He shouldn’t even have noticed the** _Feelings_ **going missing, why was this happening now?**

‘Oh, fuck off!’

‘I would if I could!’ Bill hissed and for a moment, his form seemed to twitch and twist away from him, making him look almost exactly like the picture he had shown Will some time ago. ‘But no, I am stuck here! So If I don’t want anything to do with your pathetic little Emotions, there is no way you can stop me from doing this!’ he gestured to the now pile of coals and ash.

And Will was no longer upset.

He was hopping mad.

“No.”

And he did the one thing he hadn’t wanted to do once since finding out what their- _his_ aquamarine could still do.

**‘Don’t you dar-!’**

He locked Bill away.

“What, no? You don’t think your family will like you?” Wirt asked.

“Huh?!” Will startled. Had he said that out loud? What had they been talking about?

“I don’t think he was listening.” Cordelia giggled.

“No, I was- I need to- I’ll be back.” He stammered, then pushed away from the table and headed towards the restrooms, clutching a hand over his necklace and pressing the stone to his chest.

Once there, he locked himself in one of the stalls and sat down on the closed lid of the toilet.

‘What the fuck did you think you were doing?!’ he growled, well aware that despite being unable to do anything, Bill would still hear. Just like he said he did during the time after their first day of school.

‘Those were _my Feelings_ , you dick!’  he rubbed a hand over his face and concentrated.

He could get them back, right? Or find out what they were. What did he feel when Bill burnt them? Anger, yes, at Bill, but before that?

Dipper.

He was still mad at him, despite having gotten along great a few minutes ago.

‘Is that it? Did you take away any positive Feelings I may have had for him? Why?’

Bill had said something before. _Feelings_ , developing, subconscious.

The more he searched within himself, the more he noticed that he still had some sort of _Caring_ for Dipper, despite Bill setting alight what must have been most of the positive _Feelings_ for the other.

‘I know you don’t like Dipper, or Mabel, for that matter, but seriously? Undermining _my_ friendships, just because _you_ are a little uncomfortable?!’

Out of spite, he mentally hurled a big chunk of _Caring About The Pines_ at Bill. With no idea if that was how it worked or not.

‘Fuck you! That was completely uncalled for, asshat!’ he growled and rubbed his hands over his eyes.

The worst part was that despite knowing what they had been, those _Feelings_ were almost completely gone now, and what little remained frustrated him since he knew he didn’t _just_ tolerate Dipper. He had actually liked him. Or had been starting to like him.

‘Well,’ he thought, mostly steered by irritation and vengefulness towards Bill. ‘Guess now I’ll have to spend an _extra_ amount of time with him to recreate what you destroyed.’

 

\-------------------------

 

When Will had returned to their table after running off during lunch, Clifford immediately saw the subtle tension in his frame that seemed to pass unnoticed by the others.

It lightened somewhat after he slipped back into the conversation and got away with the excuse that he had to use the bathroom very suddenly.

Clifford didn’t buy it.

Still, there wasn’t a good opportunity to ask him what happened, so he decided to wait until later.

After lunch, they played one more game, then the time they had was up and Dennis parents arrived to pick them up. They split up and he found himself in the same car with his twin, Dennis and Wirt. Wirt and Dennis began to talk about what to do when they got to Dennis place, so he turned to Will and asked in a hushed voice: “What happened?”

Will startled a little, and looked a bit guilty. “I made a mistake. I don’t really wanna talk about it now.” When Clifford didn’t reply, he added: “I’m sure I can handle it for now, but if it gets too hard or anything I’ll tell you, don’t worry.”

That didn’t make him worry less at all, but he also didn’t want to push Will, so he simply nodded. When he turned back around to find out what the other two were talking about, he found that Wirt was staring at them, but looked away quickly when their eyes met.

He didn’t think much of it, seeing as this sort of thing happened more regularly in the last couple of days. If the whole thing with the Unknown really happened, perhaps it was possible that Wirt could have some feeling that they’ve met before? He didn’t know for sure, but it seemed possible. Then again, a lot seems possible when you have been in a literal place between life and death, only to awake ten years later to find out you twin has a demon in his head that can apparently be influenced by magical gemstones.

He might have a very liberal definition of the word ‘possible’. When he thought about it, he probably wouldn’t be surprised that much if something like a fairy or a unicorn popped up in front of them at some point.

“There we are.” Dennis dad announced as he pulled into the driveway, the others right behind them.

They had all decided earlier to open the presents later at Dennis’ place, so his parents took them off their hands earlier and had them put them in the trunk of their cars. The teens retrieved their gifts, then they got themselves some water and retreated to Dennis room.

“So, what movie are we watching?” Cordelia asked.

“No movie.” Dennis replied. “Let’s play some party games. We may not have alcohol, but we do have a bottle. Of course,” he added after seeing Cordelia’s pout. “We can watch a movie later.”

“Fine.” She shrugged. “So, are we playing Truth or Dare or Spin the Bottle, or both?”

“Both?” Wirt asked.

“You know, when you make spin the bottle to find out what person you’re gonna get to dare. Or truth.”

“I just know of those being played separately.” He admitted.

“Then let’s play both!” Mabel exclaimed and snatched the bottle from Dennis. “I’ll start!”

She placed the bottle in the middle of the little circle they had formed and gave it a spin. It came to a halt with the cap facing Will.

“Will!”

“What?”

“Truth or Dare?” she asked.

“What?” he was lost.

“Truth means I get to ask you a question and you’ll have to answer it honestly, Dare means I can tell you to do something and you’ll have to do it. If you refuse, you-… usually have to take off a piece of clothing or take a drink, but we can just play it that you get a Loser point. If you have three Loser points, you’re out of the game.”

“Oh. Then… Dare I guess?”

“Hmm…. You’ll have to…. Let whoever your bottle lands on next put makeup on you before you can ask them Truth or Dare.”

“Okay?” Will paused, then reached for the bottle and gave it a spin as well. It was a little uncoordinated and the bottle spun across the carpet until the cap hit Dipper in the leg, where it stopped.

“Oh god no.” he groaned when Cordelia squealed and she and Mabel unpacked their respective makeup kits. “I’m so sorry about your face.”

The following ten minutes or so, Clifford watched with morbid curiosity as Dipper tried to put makeup in the places Cordelia, Mabel and surprisingly also Will told him to without messing up what they said was easy enough for even him.

Wirt chuckled a little, then leaned over to him to whisper: “I’m never gonna pick Dare in this game now.”

Clifford nodded. He knew his twin well enough that he’d be trying to get them all into makeup now.

“Yup.” Dennis added with a thoughtful look on his face.

Dipper didn’t seem to realize this, and once he was done with the – really horrible -  makeup on Wills' face and was asked “Truth or Dare” he picked Dare as well.

Will grinned. “Now it’s your turn.” And pulled over the others face.

“Woooo!” Mabel cheered, Cordelia joining in.

He was amazed to see that Will managed to do within five minutes what Dipper hadn’t managed to in over ten.

“Oh my god, he actually looks better than before.” Cordelia giggled.

“It itches.” He grumbled and reached up to his face, only to be intercepted by Will.

“Nuh-uh. No rubbing. Then it’ll look like what you did to my face.”

“It’s your turn.” Cordelia bounced, getting impatient.

“Alright.” Dipper’s bottle spin landed on Dennis.

“Truth.” He said immediately.

The girls booed.

“Uhm… when did you first have alcohol?”

“Never.”

“What? Not even a sip?” Wirt asked.

“He’s not 21.” Will said.

“You can have alcohol in private locations as long as your parents are there.” Cordelia explained.

“Oh.” Will looked thoughtful.

“I’m sure our parents would allow you if you asked.” Clifford answered the question he knew his twin was asking himself.

“Yeah, they’re pretty chill about that.” Cordelia agreed.

“But yeah. No alcohol for me.” Dennis shrugged and reached for the bottle.

“Will again.”

“Truth.”

Dennis stared into the air for a moment, then grinned slyly. “Have any crushes on anyone so far?”

Will started to shake his head, then paused and tilted his head. “Oh.” He breathed.

“So you do!?” Cordelia squealed.

“I think I might have had one. Or the beginnings of one. I don’t really know for sure, but it’s gone now.” He shook his head and forced a smile. “Nevermind. Right now, I don’t.” he quickly reached for the bottle, clearly keen on abandoning the current conversation topic.

It landed on him again. “Uh?”

“You just have to spin a second time.” Dipper explained, then groaned in unison with Cordelia when it landed on him.

“Come ON! Spin it properly, we want a turn too!” she gestured to herself, Wirt and Clifford.

“Truth.” said Dipper.

“…Hmm.” Will thought for a minute, then asked hesitantly: “You said a few weeks ago that you had a lot of near-death experiences. Tell us about one.”

“Oh, uhm.” Dipper hesitated. “It’s a little- you probably wouldn’t believe it.”

“Dipper.” Clifford raised a brow at him. “I heard a lot of strange things since I awoke from a ten-year coma and could just step right back into a life I didn’t know I had. Just about an hour ago, I thought about what happened and I am one hundred per cent sure that you could tell me right now unicorns exist and I will believe you that that is possible.”

Mabel made a face. “Unicorns are jerks.”

“Okay.” He commented with a straight face. “Cordelia has seen ghosts, Wirt has a bell in a frog only those who have died can hear and me and my brother aren’t all that normal either. So,” he gestured. “Go ahead.”

A short silence fell over them.

“Woah, I never noticed what freaky friends I have.” Dennis deadpanned.

“Don’t worry, you’re freaky too.” Cordelia reached over to mess up his hair. He slapped her hands away.

“So.” Will rubbed his hands. “Dipper. Near-death experience. Shoot”

“Which one?” he turned to Mabel, who thought for a second, then said: “Does the Pit count?”

“I actually don’t care if it counts, just tell us the story.” Will shrugged.

“Well, if it doesn’t count, we could still prove it’s real.” Dipper said. “It’s a Pit, it doesn’t go anywhere. I think.” He looked thoughtful for moment, then shook his head. “Anyway. There’s a pit in the town Mabel and I visit each summer. It’s called the Bottomless Pit, because it is said to be Bottomless. And… we fell in.”

“You’re alive, so I guess it’s not that Bottomless?” Dennis asked.

“Oh no, it was. We fell for a good… I don’t know, twenty minutes or so? And then it spat us back out where we fell in.”

“What?” Cordelia laughed. “Like, was there some air current down there that blew you back up or something?”

The twins shrugged. “No idea. Our Grunkle Stan fell right in again after we came out, he was fine too, so it couldn’t really have been a freak accident or anything.”

Cordelia stared at her for a moment. “Can I come with you next summer? I’m really curious now.”

“Haha, maybe?” Mabel laughed.

“Was that sufficient?” Dipper asked Will, who simply shrugged and nodded.

Next was Clifford. “Truth.”

“Okay….you two.” He pointed at him and Will. “I’ve been meaning to ask that- um, you _sure_ that you don’t remember _anything_? Because you seem pretty well adjusted most of the time.”

Clifford frowned. That was something her really didn’t like about Dipper. I he refused to answer, he’d know that at least one of them did remember things. He didn’t want to outright lie to his friends though. By omission it had seemed less like a bad thing to do, but actually lying to their faces....

He grumbled. “Just me. Just a little.”


	37. He's so clueless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> I hope you had a great week and relaxing weekend :D 
> 
> I would just like to say thank you to all of you, holy hell I never thought I would get this far! Both with the story and there being so many people who actually enjoy it OwO  
> Most of the stories I start end after two chapters, because I never bothered to share them. Maybe I will dig up one of my old drafts once I'm done with this monstrosity of a story xD  
> It means a lot to me that you guys keep coming back and leave such nice comments, it's such a motivating thing!
> 
> I'll stop my ranting here and let you enjoy this chapter of Shenanigans ;D
> 
> Holly ~♥

“So that was the deal with the whole spacing-out-thing you did?” Dennis looked thoughtful.

Clifford had explained that he’d been remembering little bits and pieces of his life before the accident, but hadn’t mentioned anything about afterwards.

It was probably for the best.

For a moment, a tense silence filled the room.

Cordelia was the one to break it.

“…Okay, are we still playing? ‘Cause I never got a turn.” She joked.

Clifford shrugged and attempted to hand her the bottle.

“No, no! It has to land on me normally, otherwise I would feel like I’m cheating. Now spin it, it’s your turn.” She took a look around, especially at Dipper and Wirt, who both looked a bit lost. “That fine with everyone?” They nodded quickly.

“Come on, Dip Dop, why the long face?” Mabel punched her brother's shoulder. “It’s great if he gets his memories back!”

“I know, I know!” he waved her off. “It is.”

Clifford’s spun the bottle – if one could call it that – and it landed on Wirt. Literally _on_ Wirt

“Pfft! Hahaha!” Cordelia laughed, joined by the other jokers in the room. “Good thing it’s plastic. Next time, try to hit someone in the head!”

“So, er, am I it or not?” Wirt picked up the bottle from his lap.

“You totally are.” Mabel beamed.

“Then…. Dare?”

He stared at Wirt, trying to come up with something.

Do a handstand? Scream something out of a window? Tell a story from your childhood? The latter is more a Truth, that wouldn’t be fair, right?

Wirt stared back for a moment, then evaded his eyes.

“…..Can you…..” Clifford shook his head. “Can someone give me hints? I have no ideas.”

“Oh my god!” Cordelia crawled over from the other side of the circle and whispered in his ear. “You know, mostly this game is about making people kiss.”

“What.” He frowned. “I’m not going to make him do that.” And what, who would he be kissing? Dipper would have both their heads if Clifford said Mabel, and Cordelia…. no, that didn’t seem right somehow.

She moved away and continued in her normal voice. “If he doesn’t want to, he can take a Loser point.”

He could just leave a choice, right? Or just do something completely else.

“What did you tell him? The poor guy looks more conflicted than before!” Mabel scooted over and pulled out her phone.

“Here, let’s just look up some dares!”

He sighed thankfully. “Thank you.”

“No prob!” She was silent for a moment, then made a face. “No, these are too much.”

“What?” Cordelia came over as well.

“There was one in there about stuffing ice cubes in your bra and leaving them there a minute.”

Cordelia pulled the same face. “Please go to a different website.”

“On it. How about this: There’s a generator here….. They’re asking a category. Are we going with ‘kids’ or ‘soft’? I don’t know about ‘party’, but I think I’d rather steer clear of ‘hot’.”

‘Pff, do one in hot for fun.’ Cordelia poked her.

Will came over as well to look over both girls shoulders.

“Touch your partner's stomach.” Mabel read. “That’s kinda disappointing.” She tapped on her screen and Clifford saw a new dare show up.

“Oh.” She made.

Will tilted his head. “What’s a strip-tease?”

Wirt choked. “C-can you p-please not!”

“Don’t worry, this is just for laughs.” Cordelia giggled. “And a strip-tease is basically getting undressed _really_ slowly.”

“Just go into the ‘kids’ category.” Dipper groaned.

“Awww!!!” Cordelia squealed. Clifford looked over and a smile tugged at his lips.

“I suppose that works.” He turned to Wirt. “Go out in the garden and give every tree a hug and tell each that you love them.”

Wirt waited for a moment, then sighed and got up.

The group followed him outside, where he went to the only tree in the garden to carry out his dare.

“Dennis, why can’t you have more trees?” Cordelia sighed wistfully.

They quickly found themselves back inside, and on Wirt’s turn, he dared Will to fix his face. Cordelia and Mabel let him use their make-up removal pads as well as their actual make-up, and he ended up looking “fab as hell” as Mabel put it.

Cordelia finally got her turn and got dared by Will to kiss one of the people next to her. She immediately turned away from Dennis and pressed a quick peck to Mabel’s cheek.

Clifford didn’t think much of it, but his brother seemed unreasonably happy with himself. It had just been on the cheek, and she probably just didn’t want to kiss Dennis. That would be weird, they’ve been friends forever. And girls give each other pecks all the time in the movies, so that’s probably normal. And if it wasn’t, Dipper would have probably given some sort of indication that something was wrong.

Dipper got Dared next by Cordelia, who seemed to run out of both ideas and juice - the bottles they’d brought upstairs earlier this evening were almost completely gone – so she told him to get them all new drinks. Dennis elected to lend him a hand and so, the rest of the group chatted about different party games.

“And then there’s Never Have I Ever. You have to say that, then add something, like ‘Never have I ever driven a car’ and everyone who did do that has to take a drink, take a piece of clothing off or get a Loser point.” Mabel explained. “Of course, to say it, you must have not done that either, or you will lose as well.”

“Ha, never have I ever been to a Halloween party!” Will grinned.

“Lie!” Mabel called. “Just because you can’t remember, doesn’t mean you weren’t!”

“But isn’t his game looking for the story? Or the experience?” Wirt asked. “So, technically, if he doesn’t remember it, it wouldn’t be fair to play it like that.”

“Hah!” Will pointed a finger in Mabel’s face.

“Did you get any ideas f-for costumes yet?” Wirt asked.

“I haven’t the slightest idea.” Will shook his head. “What is there to dress up as?”

“I mean,” Cordelia started. “You don’t necessarily have to go as something scary.”

“I knew s-someone who dressed up as an egg.” Wirt said.

“Yeah, you can go as whatever you like.” Mabel grinned. “And don’t even start about having hard, we girls always have to make our costumes ourselves, or take the male variant. Did you _see_ what they’re selling in the stores?”

“Uh, no. We haven’t gone yet.” Will reminded her.

“Well, it’s awful. They’re all basically lingerie. That’s not something you can actually wear.” She sighed mournfully. “Me and Dipper are having trouble too. There are no good twin costumes anymore.”

“Do you have to have a twin costume?” Clifford asked. Wouldn’t it be easier for each to pick their own?

“Yes!” Mabel cried.

“What she’s saying is: No, you don’t _have_ to have one, she just _wants_ to have one. So you and Will are fine going solo.” Cordelia reassured them. “And really, most costumes now are pop culture references anyways, so go watch some TV, play some video games and read some books, then choose a character and boom: costume.”

“Would be great if it was that easy.” Dennis came back in with Dipper. “You’d have an idea, but you still need to get or make the costume. And we only have a week or so left. And Will and Clifford have less if you’re thinking of the whole family visit they got planned next weekend. There’ll probably be lots to do before and afterwards, so we can take out the Friday afternoon and Monday as well. And the party is on Wednesday, so they only got this week’s Monday to Thursday afternoon and Tuesday next week. Which is the date where they should try it on to make any last-second changes.”

“Thank you.” Clifford said dryly. “That helped alleviate my worries immensely.”

“I’m just going as something classic, something I can buy in a store on Tuesday.” Will moaned.

“Zombie?” Dennis suggested.

“Nah…”

“Cowboy?” Cordelia asked.

Will made a face.

“The devil?”

He gave Mabel the stink eye.

“What about a mummy? You literally just need a bunch of bandages, or toilet paper in a pinch.” Wirt added.

“Noo, that’s stupid!” he whined.

“Dracula? Or basically any vampire? You’re pretty pale, so you wouldn’t need much in the make-up department.”

He sat up and looked at Dipper contemplatively. “You know what? That doesn’t sound half bad.” He hummed thoughtfully.

“Any ideas for me?” Clifford asked hopefully. He could understand why Will had declined the other options, but he hoped their friends had a couple more ideas.

“Hmm.” Mabel made. “Can’t think of much more, perhaps a werewolf?”

Clifford sighed. “No, but thank you anyways.”

“You could also go by mythology.” Dennis tried to console him. “I mean, Death is represented differently in different cultures, I’m going with the whole Grim Reaper look, but there are other myths and legends that are easily recognizable or at least known commonly enough that people will get it.”

“But a costume doesn’t need to be got by other people.” Cordelia jumped in. “I’m going as an anime character, and I’m sure no one except me will get it, but that’s fine.”

“So you are using your cosplay?” Mabel asked.

“Yeah, apparently, props are okay as long as they aren’t harming anyone. I never said anything about a scythe, so I’ll just bring it and leave it in the corner when we’re in a crowd.”

“You have an actual scythe?!” Wirt exclaimed.

“Nah,” she waved him off. “just made one out of wood, but the points could still hurt people’s eyes.”

“I mean, it’s just the grades 11 and 12, so it’s not the entire school. I’m sure there’ll be enough room for you and your scythe.” Dennis assured her and laid down on his bed. “Just take care to not knock down any of the decoration. I heard the seniors put a lot of work into it this year.”

“It’s a haunted house, right?” Clifford had some sort of idea what that was supposed to look like, but he couldn’t think of their school looking like one.

“Jup. They made several committees who are all working hard on it. They got one for food and drinks, for decoration, music, sleeping arrangements, fake hall patrols to pacify the teachers, that sort of stuff.”

Wirt snorted. “What, really?”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a party in the school. If anything goes wrong, it’s their fault, so if they want to take the risk, that’s fine by me.”

Mabel nodded. “And really, why does someone sneaks away from the main party except for looking for some peace and quiet?”

Dennis deadpanned. “I admire your positive outlook on people. I hope nothing happens, but I’m sure there will be one or two graffiti’s the seniors will have to clean up later on.” He grinned, then frowned. “By the way, speaking of parties, it’s almost 11. This is my birthday party, and I just forgot about the presents.” Chuckling, he heaved himself up.

 

\-------------------------

 

After everyone had a good laugh at Dennis’ absentmindedness, they each got their presents from where they left them. Will was pleased to see that his present was well received, even if Dennis – and funnily enough Dipper - seemed a lot more enthusiastic about Clifford’s. Mabel had knitted him a matching scarf and beanie hat – it _was_ getting colder lately – with dark blue and black wool. Cordy had given him a phone case that looks like an old hardcover book and a gift card for some bookstore.

“You got a lot of books, and I after all these years I still don’t know which ones you have and which ones are not your thing at all, so there.”

Dipper got him a puzzle book, saying he didn’t quite know what he liked, but Dennis told him that it was fine. He didn’t really enjoy the crosswords, but there were other puzzles in there, and he did enjoy the ones that were less commonly known.

“There are Slitherlinks and Battleships in here, and I don’t know what Masyu is, but it looks fun.”

Wirt had gotten him a book titled Magyk, a story about the seventh son of a seventh son who gets kidnapped at birth for his magic powers. It was exactly the sort of fairy tale, medieval setting that Dennis seemed to like so much.

“Thanks, guys, these are great. And you,” he pointed at Cordy. “Are hereby obligated to come with me to pick out books. Wirt doesn’t even know me that well, he took a shot in the dark and got it perfectly right, so as my childhood friend, you are in disgrace now.”

She pouted. “Fine, you’re right, that was lazy. I deserve that. I’m just really bad at gifts, like, what about you guys?” she gestured to Will and Clifford.

“I know that Will likes video games and Clifford likes books, just like Dennis, but I don’t know what genre, even though I could probably get you literally anything and I’d be new to you.”

“I don’t know if that’s funny or insulting.” Clifford tilted his head.

“Both, I think.” Will grinned. “But it’s fine, I get it. I mean, even I don’t know what _I_ want. You’re right, there is so much out there to choose from that I don’t even know exists. I promise you, whatever you get me I’ll be totally happy about it.”

“What are you planning for your birthday anyways?” Dipper asked.

“Another Sleepover?” Clifford suggested. They hadn’t talked about it much. “Do you guys have any suggestions?”

“Oh!” Cordy exclaimed. “We could go mini golfing!”

“Yeah!” Mabel agreed enthusiastically.

“What about laser tag?” Dipper suggested. “Or we could go hiking?”

“There’s a shooting lodge about an hours’ drive away.” Wirt mused.

“Dude, a shooting range?” Dennis raised a brow.

“Y-yeah? What a-about it? They let anyone over ten years handle a gun- as long a-as a parent is present! Of course. W-we’re all over 18, so we’d get to fire some rifles on our own.”

“You did that before?” Cordy tilted her head.

“Um, yes? Greg’s dad took us earlier this year for Greg’s tenth birthday. He used to be a forester.”

“Uuuh, what does being a forester have to do with shooting stuff?” Cordy looked weirded out.

“Overpopulation, I think?” Dipper asked.

“Exactly. There are less predators around nowadays, especially near civilization, and the rest of the animals can destroy the fauna if there’s too many of them. He didn’t particularly _like_ that part of his job, but, er, s-someone still had to do it, I-I guess.”

“…Huh. The more you know.” The red-head seemed both thoughtful and interested. “I didn’t even know we had a shooting range nearby.”

“It’s up in the mountains, like I said, an hour or so away.”

“Well, those all sound like great ideas, but I don’t know.” Will shrugged. “Do you have any ideas, bro?”

“Well, it is going to get colder, so there isn’t much to do outside, right?”

“Cold _er_ , not cold.” Mabel corrected. “This is still California, guys. Even though the weather is kinda chilly at the moment.”

Dennis nodded. “I think they said it’s gonna get a little warmer around Halloween and the week or so after, but then the temperatures are gonna go down again.” He yawned. “Guys, it’s almost midnight, do you wanna do anything, or should we get ready for bed? We still have to lay out mattresses and shit.”

They agreed to start setting up, even though some – Will, Mabel and Cordy – protested going to sleep immediately. However, after a bit of a hassle about a missing mattress, the discussion about who was sleeping where and why not next to anybody’s feet – like, why? – and a short pillow-and-comforter fight, they were all too tired out to protest any longer, and the entire group found themselves asleep by the time 1 PM rolled around.

In the morning, they all ate breakfast together before being sent off or picked up.

“We had a lot of fun, thanks for having us!” Mabel bid Dennis goodbye when she and Dipper were picked up parallel to Will and Clifford. Their mothers were busy chatting at the door.

“- but really, of course, they’ve grown! Last we saw each other, they were still wearing pampers.” Annie laughed. “It really is fascinating, that they’ve found each other again after such a long time.”

“Then again, the world is a small place.” Mrs Pines nodded. “I’m sure they would have run into each other at some point.”

“Is this about the baby thing?” Will asked. It’s been a while since he’d found the hairclip that had led to Sam telling him this story, but it was a funny coincidence when you thought about it.

“Oh, yes!” Annie beamed. “Helen and I did use to get along well when you were in kindergarten.”

Mrs Pines nodded. “We simply didn’t keep in touch very well. But I do remember you!” She said to Will. “You and Dipper got along great in the play.”

“Awww, the play!” Annie cooed. “It was adorable. There was this story about a farm, I believe.”

“YES! Okay, we need to go now bye!” Dipper all but ran out of the house, pushing his laughing mom towards the car. Mabel quickly waved goodbye and ran off as well. “See you on Monday!”

“Huh?” Will frowned.

“Goodbye!” called Annie, chuckling just as much as Helen did. “I think I recorded it somewhere, it was adorable, you played a baby. Clifford was dressed up as a daisy, it was adorable. Mabel was the farmer’s wife, I think. Dipper actually had to learn a song for the play, it was very cute.” She shook her head. “Oh, I’m getting side-tracked. Let’s get you home.”

The twins said their goodbyes to Dennis – they were the last ones to leave – and quickly found themselves on the road.

“Did you have fun?” Annie asked.

“Yeah, but bowling sort of sucks.” Will shrugged.

“Haha! I understand that, I can’t play either. Who won?”

“Dennis. By far.” Clifford sighed. “Will was last I think?”

Will punched his twin's arm. “Shut up, that was Dipper.”

“By one point?”

“It was still him.” He pouted. It’s not even just that he was bad at the game, but he’d also been distracted for the latter part of it.

He still didn’t feel like talking to Bill, but some very small part of him felt bad for just locking him up.

If that even was what he did.

‘And I bet you can still hear _that_ , right?’ He didn’t let the other answer, but it felt good – in a way – to talk to a listening wall instead of having to hear any snarky replies from the other side.

‘I’m pretty sure we both know I’m too much of a softie to keep this up for long, but I can’t talk to you right now – and you know what I _mean_ ….. And I _am_ sorry about this. You still deserve it, but I am also sorry.’ He grimaced. ‘I mean, seriously?! I was …okay with you sending mental jabs about Pines, but all out destroying my own feelings was simply too much. Like, what did _I_ ever do to you?’ he thought of what he was doing right now. ‘ _Before_ , I mean.’

Also, he was demanding answers from someone he had silenced himself.

‘Just think about that.’ 


	38. Everybody make a scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> It's so beautiful outside here Q-Q I wanna go outside so badly, but I don't have time... -_-  
> wish me luck and maybe I'll be done with my paper before the good weather decides to leave xD
> 
> Also, picking Halloween costumes is a nightmare, if you have any ideas for the last character remaining costume-less at the end of this chapter, you might save them from some embarrassment.
> 
> Enjoy!  
> Holly~♥

It was Wednesday and Will was still pissed.

Or at the very least, he was irritated. He had an inkling of an understanding as to why Bill did what he did, but he was currently having a tug-of-war with himself. He had to let Bill go sooner or later, he just didn’t know when to do it. The past few days had been a little hectic, what with organizing the Reunion, so he had yet to find an extended period of time where he could be alone, in silence, and talk out what happened. He didn’t want to do that during school or when it was likely his parents would call on him to help with cleaning.

Also, he didn’t want Clifford to know about this. He would surely say “I told you so” and try to convince him to never let the demon out again. And Will just _knew_ that wouldn’t be possible. He had recharged his stone as soon as he returned after Dennis birthday and was more or less waiting for it to run out of juice again. That way, he’d be leaving the inevitable confrontation more or less up to fate.

And his own anger and willpower, since that seemed to be what pushed Bill back in the first place.

“Alright boys, have fun.” Annie held near the entrance of the mall where they wanted to meet with the others to pick their costumes. “You can call me when you want to be picked up, but I might need thirty minutes or so to arrive, so keep that in mind, okay?”

“Got it.” Will nodded.

“Bye, mom.”

Annie had given each of them some money to buy costumes – and lunch if they stayed longer. They were the third part of the group to arrive. Cordelia was already there chatting with Wirt, who had brought a surprising addition to their entourage.

“Well, he still needed a costume as well, so…” he gestured helplessly amused at Greg, who was regaling some tale or another to Cordelia, who was listening enthusiastically.

Shortly after, Dennis arrived with the other pair of twins and they all headed inside. There were many stores with Halloween decoration put out, but only a few of them actually sold costumes. They decided to start their search at the party supply store that was in the mall.

Cordelia voted for that one first. “Their inventory changes with the seasons more than in other stores, but they always have stuff for baby showers, birthdays, bachelor parties and weddings in stock. And around Halloween, all of that gets pushed into one tiny niche and the rest of the store is full of wigs and costumes, fake blood and loads of decoration.” She shrugged. “If nothing else, we can get some inspiration for costumes there. And possible props, I know a kid who used their spider webs to dress as a spider.”

Both Dipper and Mabel made a face. “That’ scary alright.” The latter shook herself.

“At the very least, it seems like a good start.” Clifford nodded.

The store itself was pure chaos. People had taken things from their respective hangers, only to reconsider and put them back wherever they were standing at the moment. A good amount of the wares didn’t even have price tags on them and the store was a bit crowded. They still managed to find their way through and look through the costumes.

“Hey Will!?” Dennis called. “Are you still up for the Vampire thing?” he held up a long black cape. “They got pretty good fake teeth as well. Not the cheap plastic ones that make your mouth hurt.”

“I don’t think I know what you’re talking about, but okay.”

The girls sadly didn’t find anything, and Will understood now what they had meant with having to make their own costumes.

‘These might as well be underwear.’ He made a face at a couple’s costume for cave men that displayed a horrendous difference in the amount of fabric. ‘It’s actually really disturbing to look at.’

“Hey, woah, I actually found something!” Mabel called Dipper over to her. “We can go as dapper skeletons! See?” She held up two skeleton shirts. “You can wear one of them under your suit and I can dig out that ripped up goth skirt from last year and make a dress!” She practically bounced in place.

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” Dipper reached up to get a top hat from one of the hat racks. He put it on and looked around. “They don’t have mirrors here, right?” he sighed.

“You look great.”

‘Did that just come out of my mouth?’ Will swiftly turned in place and walked over to where Cordelia was looking through makeup. He was torn between thinking ‘Hah! You did nothing, it’s still there!’ and ‘Oh god I actually have a crush on him what the fuck.’

“So, we got some white and black and blue here, for even paler vampire skin and bags. I don’t really think you need the former. Perhaps we should simply go and buy the palest _skin_ tone makeup they have? Just normal white always looks a lot faker. Perhaps-” Cordelia was talking to him, but he wasn’t really listening well. He just nodded and stared into the air.

‘Why did I do that? I could have just stayed there, now it looks suspicious!’ he worried. It didn’t even matter to him anymore if what Bill had destroyed had really been a crush or not, it _was one now_ and he didn’t know how to deal with it!

“Cordy?” he asked, whispering.

“-and I mean, the whole heterochromia thing you have is pretty cool, we could slick all that hair back for once. We just need-”

“Cordelia.”

“- some hair gel…Huh?”

“How do you deal with having a crush on a friend.” He blurted out, trying to keep it quiet enough that the others didn’t hear.

“W-what are you talking about? I have no idea what you mean!” She laughed nervously.

“I’m not talking about _your_ crush, _I_ need help.” He fidgeted.

She paused, seemingly torn between denying further and teasing him. “Well. Uhm. _If_ I had a crush on a friend. I guess, I would, like, test the waters? Maybe? Just a nudge here or there? See how …..they react?” She suddenly looked nervous. “It’s not me, right? You wouldn’t ask me if it was?”

“No, don’t worry. It’s also not Mabel.”

He could almost feel her relief when she sighed. “Great. If you breathe a word-”

“-You’ll kill me and no one will find my body. Got it. Same to you.”

“I don’t even know who it is.” Cordy protested. “But I’ll probably figure it out now and when I do, I’ll keep it to myself.”

“Thank you.” He sighed and leant his forehead against her shoulder.

“Don’t sweat it, Will.” She laughed. “We’ll manage, right? Gotta stick together.” She paused. “But seriously, you got a cape, but what about the rest?”

He thought for a moment. “I got a few things at home. I was thinking about that vest, you know, the yellow one? I got some black jeans and white shirts, and I’m pretty sure that would look good, right?”

Cordy looked thoughtful, then nodded. “What I’m picturing looks promising. So, you really just need makeup and hair gel.”

“Do I have to?” he brushed his hair over his eye. He was less self-conscious about that irrational decision he’d made months ago – especially knowing that it hadn’t really come _just_ from himself – but it still felt like something he should hide.

“Dude, it’s Halloween. Most people are going to assume it’s a contact lense. And it looks sick, so why not?”

He pondered it for a moment, then shrugged. “If you say so.”

When they left, all except Wirt and Clifford had found costumes. Dennis had almost all the things he needed for his costume, Cordelia’s had been ready for months and Greg found a tiger costume and was currently over the moon with joy.

“I say one of you should try for a mafia boss.” Dennis commented as they wandered through the mall. “Probably Clifford though, I don’t think you can pull it off. No offence.” He added towards Wirt.

“Yeah, no. I-I think you’re probably right. But wouldn’t Clifford need a suit?” he darted a look over to the older Taylor twin.

“So?” Will shrugged.

“Suits are expensive.” Dipper groaned. “I just have one because I wear it sometimes during the summer. You know, while temping.”

“How expensive?” Will asked. “I haven’t bought anything except for a really cheap cape.” After calling his mom to ask about what makeup to use, he’d found that they had both the black and blue for the eyes at home, and that he should get real skin tone makeup. “I just have one more thing to buy, then you can have the rest of what mom gave us.” He said to Clifford.

“For a full mafia look, he’d need a hat and a gun. Toy gun would be fine, of course.” Cordy mused.

“I know where to get cheap suits.” Dipper mentioned. He led them out of the mall and down a few alleys nearby and they ended up at a second-hand shop. “They often have suits that are still in really good condition, because someone got one for a single occasion and then never wore it again.”

While the teens browsed, Greg seemed to get more an more bored, so Will came over to entertain him for a while.

“Hey there. How are you holding up?”

“This is boring. I thought we were picking out cool costumes.” He pouted.

“Eh, we are. We just want to make sure they look extra realistic.” He’d seen the suit costumes earlier. They were either really ugly or really scratchy or were already falling apart in the store. “And the costume store didn’t have what we were looking for. I’m glad you found something good though.” He nodded to the bag the kid had insisted on carrying by himself.

“I know, right! It’s a tiger! They’re weird cats, they like swimming.”

“They do?”

“Uh-huh!” he nodded.

“That _is_ cool. Do you like swimming?”

Greg shifted in place nervously. “Not so much. But tigers do! So when I wear the costume, I won’t be afraid of swimming, because I _am_ a tiger! Rawr!” he made claws with his hands.

Will laughed at the adorable picture. “You’re a little tiger already, with that roar.”

The beam on Greg’s face made his day.

Within no time at all, the others had found a cheap pinstripe suit for Clifford. Mabel had found an old dress she adored and Cordy had also found some blouses while browsing.

“Guys, it’s been five hours.” Dennis remarked when they came out of the store. “We should get some food.”

“Oh.” Will made.

‘Right. Lunch. We spent our food money.’

“You doof.” Cordy laughed. “I got some money with me, I can invite you.” She offered.

“We’ll pay you back.” Clifford said immediately.

“Hmmm, bake me something sometime. Okay? Then I’ll consider the debt paid.”

“We don’t know how to bake.” Will mentioned.

“That’ll make it even better.” She giggled. “I’m sure you’ll do fine. You literally just need to follow directions, that’s what a recipe is for.”

The group went to the food court of the mall and each got themselves some lunch before meeting at a table Dennis had snatched up for them.

“So.” Mabel ended the short silence during which they all had first dug into their food. “Only Wirt still needs a costume, right?”

Wirt looked up from his Chinese takeout like a deer in headlights.

“He _could_ go as a deer.” Will shared his train of thought.

“If anything, he should go as a stag.” Mabel corrected. “But I don’t think we’ll get antlers in that short of a time period. I didn’t see any plastic ones with the costumes and making your own takes a while.”

“Dad has antlers!” Greg said. “And they could fit on Wirt’s head, I think.”

“I’m not going as a stag.” Wirt said.

“Pity.” Greg shook his head and sighed.

“What did you go as last year?” Dennis asked.

“Um, I didn’t- I mean, we were kinda new in town and all that, so… Greg went, but I just… stayed at home?”

Dennis shrugged. “The year before then.”

Wirt cringed. “Yeah, no. Not happening.”

“He went as a gnome.” Greg supplied.

Cordy almost inhaled her drink, Mabel made a thoughtful face and nodded. “That seems like a legit Halloween costume. Gnomes _are_ creepy.”

“I know!” Dennis exclaimed. “Did you see the ones in my neighbor's yard?” he shuddered. “Why do so many old people collect those? They’re creepy alright.”

“Or you could just paint yourself green.” The redhead smirked. “That’s anything. A frog, a cucumber, Hulk, a leprechaun or whatever.”

“Now that just seems lazy.” Greg crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

“A-and I’d really rather- not have to, you know, clean makeup off my face days after?...” he sagged a bit in his seat. “Perhaps I should just stay home.”

“Aww, no!” Mabel protested.

Will backed her up immediately. “Yeah, come on, just use an old costume if you have no idea.”

“Or ask your parents.” Cordy added. “They can have really good ideas.”

“Hmm.” Mabel hummed. “How about… you try to find something until this Sunday, and if you don’t find anything, we all come over to your house, kidnap you, and dress you up in whatever we have brought with us?” She smirked challengingly.

“I love the way you think.” Will beamed at her, ignoring the way her smile faltered for a second. “I’m in.”

“Yeah! I can get those antlers for sure!” Greg shouted excitedly, bouncing in his seat.

“I didn’t a-agree to this!” Wirt protested.

However, with the combined efforts of Will, Mabel, Greg and then Cordy, the others quickly agreed to help out, and therefore Wirt was overruled.

The rest of their shopping trip was spent buying a few random knick-knack accessories to threaten Wirt with, as well as the makeup for Will. After they finished their shopping, Clifford called their parents, followed by Wirt and Cordy doing the same. They all accompanied Dennis and the Pines twins to their bus rides home, then waited on a few well-placed decorative rocks for their parents to pick them up.

“You know, I-…” Wirt paused. “I have this strange feeling, like… I don’t know, did you and Mabel have a fight or something?” he asked Will.

The other teen raised a brow. “Or something, I guess. She had a problem with …a recent choice I’ve made, but even now when I’ve ….respected her wishes and just- not done the thing, she’s still acting as though I’m… well, I don’t know, honestly, it’s annoying. I thought I was making her happy, but then she just kept being so suspicious of me.”

‘Not even me. I know she doesn’t mean to, but sometimes I think she forgets that there are two people she’s being cross with at once. And I didn’t do anything.’ He sighed. “And fine, perhaps I did secretly go against it, but I thought nothing bad would happen and I was wrong.”

“Um, is that about that personality thing you mentioned once?”

“Huh?”

“At the zoo, I think it was. You were talking about the stones and I asked what you were talking about, b-but I guess you thought I meant the stones.”

“Wait, you didn’t tell him yet? I thought he knew!” Cordy scolded him.

Will placed his head in his hands. “Oh my god, I forgot. I’m so sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Well, what is it?”

“I have a personality disorder. There’s this second personality that I’m more or less sharing with, but…” he trailed off.

“So it _is_ what’s up with Baby-Bel?” Cordy asked. “’Cause I kinda noticed that too, she’s still nice to you, but something feels off about it.”

“Well, yeah. She was convinced that he.. my other half was… bad. So she asked me to-” he struggled for words.

Clifford helped out. “She asked Will to repress him, not talk to him anymore. But now, Will does that and Mabel is still on edge.”

“Well-” Will started. “I didn’t really believe her at first.”

“What did he do?” Clifford glared a hole at his forehead, and if he hadn’t known it wasn’t directed at him, Will might have felt intimidated.

“Well, really nothing permanent. Something- … went missing, but it’s coming back, I think. So really, no harm done. But, uh, now? I _really_ don’t talk to him. Or let him talk to me.”

“…I’m sorry Will.” Clifford shook his head. “But I’ll have to side with Mabel on that one.”

“What? Come on.” Will rolled his eyes. “It’s fine.”

“I, uh, honestly don’t like the sound of that, what- is your other half actually evil?” Wirt looked worried and also confused. “Which sounds like you have some Jekyll and Hyde thing going on.” He laughed weakly, then avoided Will’s eyes.

“A what?”

“Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.” Cordy supplied. “Dennis actually read it, it’s this book about a doctor-“

“I-it’s actually his journals.” Wirt corrected.

“Welllll, okay, but I think he makes some kind of elixir to get rid of his feelings or urges or something, but it just splits him in two-“

“No! He always had a split personality, he wanted to get rid of Hyde for good. That’s why he makes the elixir. To concentrate on his work. And- and Hyde is evil, he’s completely egoistic.”

“Oh. But they have this big mental fight or something, right? I don’t know.”

“Jekyll becomes Hyde more and more, so in the end, he has that elixir to keep from being Hyde all the time.”

Will laid a hand on his chest, right over his necklace.

‘I see what he means.’ He thought dryly. ‘I’m not trying to get rid of you, I just don’t want you mucking around in my head. My half of it, at least.’

“Your mom’s here.” Cordy warned suddenly.

Indeed, their car was pulling up to their little rock. The boys stood and said their goodbyes and promised them to talk more later.

“You know what, I’ll talk to Mabel about this.” The redhead offered. “I can’t promise anything, but if you talk to her it won’t do much, so I’ll be mediator.”

“Thanks.” Will smiled and gave her a quick hug before he and Clifford got into their mom’s car.

On their way home, Annie regaled with all the things she had to organize for the family reunion, the things that they had to shop for and the rooms they had to clean, how they needed to make sure they had a few sleepover options planned just in case and what if this and what if that.

Will was really too tired and preoccupied to listen intently and ended up blocking out a lot of the back and forth discussion about the right napkins between Clifford and Annie. But despite this, he still went to bed early that day – before midnight that is. A few minutes before midnight is early, right?

Perhaps tomorrow wouldn’t be as stressful as Annie had indicated.

 

\--------------------

 

Thursday was more hectic than any of the Taylors would have liked.

Sam had a deadline for one of his translations coming up and Annie was busy with her clients, so they had to forcibly make time to clean the house and buy the groceries they needed for the Reunion – “Thank god we decided on a potluck, we wouldn’t have managed to get all the food, especially concerning our family member’s varying diets.” Annie had ranted while heaving six-packs of water into the trunk with the twins.

Tomorrow was Friday, and the first group of guests would arrive shortly after the twins were going to return from school. Finn - mom's older brother -  was going to come over with his lover Wendy and his children, Chris and Matt for tea, before leaving to go to their hotel in town.

Since the rest of the family arrived much later in the evening, they were going to meet them on Saturday morning at the café where they planned to do their brunch. Afterwards, the party would move back to the Taylors house, and last through most of the day, probably well into the night. Sunday was going to be pretty much the same, except that the first people would leave after brunch and they would likely ‘be free’ - as Sam said – around 5 PM. It would give the twins time to do the homework they’d likely won’t be able to do the rest of the weekend.

From what Clifford had seen in the few minutes they’d been home after school, their father was actually terrible at calm housekeeping. The work got done, sure, but all the while he seemed to spread the feeling that he was being hunted by something, which stressed out everyone else in the house. And then Annie would go after him – probably the reason for that nervousness, but Clifford would keep that to himself – and tell him which spots he missed, and what things he didn’t put in their ‘proper’ place. Sam had confided in the boys that he put the things he used in the places where he could best get to them, after all, he was the one cooking most of the time, why did their mom get to decide which herbs went where? It’s not like she’s the one using them.

“- and then you boys need to clean your rooms. You both have pretty big beds, would one of you mind sharing? Just in case more people want to stay over than expected? Or, not exactly expected, just- just in case it gets too late for some of them to go back to their hotels. And we still need some groceries for the barbeque on Sunday. Do we still have coal?” At this point, Clifford was sure Annie just liked to talk about these things, even if no one answered her, just to lay it out for herself verbally.

They turned into their street and were soon helping her unload the drinks and groceries they’d gotten at the supermarket. He did wonder why they hadn’t gotten the meat for the barbeque there as well, but Annie had said something about going to a different store for that. Apparently, it was either cheaper or better or both.

By now, Sam seemed to be done with his cleaning and had retreated to do some work in the study. Clifford was surprised to note that the entire counter in the kitchen had been cleaned of all the papers and knick-knacks and other stuff that had been lying around.

“Wow, I didn’t know there was a counter under all that!” Will teased laughingly.

Annie laughed as she put away the groceries. “Can you put the drinks out on the patio, please.” While the boys were busy carrying the drinks from the car to the garden, Sam came out of his study to help Annie.

Spotting a chance for a break, the twins idled in the garden for a minute.

“You know; mom might ask you to clean up the garden too.” Will joked, out of breath from all the heavy lifting. Clifford fared a little better, which gave him a strange feeling of satisfaction over being fitter than his twin. He shook his head in response to Will’s statement.

“She better not. In comparison to how it looked three months ago, this is far better.”

“Only three months.” Will hummed.

“Well, soon it’s more like four, plus the two we spent in the hospital.”

“That’s half a year.” His twin seemed a little stunned. Clifford himself hadn’t even realized this.

“It is. No wonder our relatives are a little peeved.”

“I’m scared.”

Clifford sighed and hugged Will. “I’m nervous too, but it’ll be fine, right? They’re still our family, even if we don’t remember them, they’ll still at least like us, right?”

Will shrugged. They stayed outside for a moment longer, then headed back inside.

Clifford had, so far, never thought that air could change with emotions, but after feeling his dad’s stress before seeing him rush around the house earlier, he had changed that opinion pretty quickly. Now, the tenseness was back and when they entered the kitchen, Sam was angrily stuffing things into cabinets and quietly huffing to himself.

Neither of the twins had seen him like this before.

“Is everything okay?” Will asked tentatively.

“Oh, just fine!” Sam had a desperately fake smile plastered on that fell immediately after he finished his sentence. “I’m the one who does all the housework, who cleans up the things you guys keep leaving around, but god forbid I leave something laying around!” He ranted.

Clifford hadn’t felt like he was leaving so many things lying around, though.

“Uh, sorry?” Will mumbled.

“Urgh.” Sam shook his head. “Not- not you especially, even though sometimes, yes, but that’s not what I mean right now.”

“Where is mom?”

“Went to get more groceries.” Came the clipped response.

“….Can we help?” Clifford asked hesitantly.

“No, you ca-!” Sam cut himself off and took a deep breath. “No, sorry. I’m just- there’s the dishwasher, could you get out the dishes?” He asked before rushing out of the room. Shortly after, they heard the door to his study slam shut.

The twins stood in the kitchen silently.

“….What just happened?” Will looked very lost and confused.

“I think…” Clifford started. He didn’t really _know_ either, but he had a hunch. There had been only one of them so far, but he had a single memory of a fight between their parents. He didn’t know how normal that was, or what exactly even happened, but if they were still together, it couldn’t be so bad, right? “Maybe mom and dad had a fight? And then she left? But Sam is still angry? I don’t know”

“Isn’t it dangerous to drive around when you’re mad?”

“Well…” Clifford hadn’t really understood that talk yet. Apparently, it was dangerous to drive when one was very mad, sad or even too happy, not under the influence of any drugs or when the driver hadn’t gotten enough sleep. So, when he really thought about it, it’s always dangerous?

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” He sighed. “Let’s just help out a bit.”

They got started on putting away the dishes from the dishwasher. It quickly turned out that, although they knew where things like silverware and bowls and plates went, they had no idea where to put lunchboxes and the few Tupperware containers they encountered.

“Should we just leave them?” Will asked, biting his lip.

Clifford shook his head. “We just have to go through the cabinets.”

Finally, they managed to find what they thought were the correct ones, when Sam re-entered the kitchen.

“I’m sorry, boys. I was frustrated and took it out on you, that wasn’t fair.” He apologized immediately. “I don’t want to make excuses, but we are both stressed out by this. Your grandmothers alone are already a lot on the best of days, and while we aren’t on bad terms with the rest of our families, my side especially can get a little-” he made a vague hand gesture. “Err. Petty, I guess?” he sighed. “We’re both on edge right now, and Annie and I did always have trouble with events like this. This has nothing to do with you, just in case you were thinking that. This is just an old fight that gets rehashed every year or so.”

“What exactly was it about?” Will asked, then rushed to explain his reason for asking. “If we don’t know, we might accidentally start a big fight or something.”

Clifford nodded. “He’s right. I would like to know how we can help, too.”

“Really, just helping around the house in small ways is a _big_ help.” He gestured to the dishwasher. “This, for example. It’s something small, but still takes time, even though it takes little effort, and the time I spend putting dishes away could be better used to clean up something that I bother with less often. Same thing with doing laundry or vacuuming. I don’t want _you_ to do all that.” He quickly corrected. “But just, I don’t know, picking up a candy wrapper that’s been left on the living room table, even if it wasn’t you. It’s really just a lot of small things that come together.” He shrugged. “And your mom and I are people too, you know, we get frustrated sometimes. Too bad that we get angry in ways that make the other even more irritated.” He chuckled weakly. “But really, I shouldn’t bother you with all that. It’s really nothing, all couples fight sometimes. The important thing is to make up afterwards.”

Clifford and Will had sat down as their dad talked and had listened to him intently. The older twin was still a little unsure, but Will seemed to have gotten over the whole thing quickly and marched around the table to give their father a hug. Clifford stood to do the same – his feelings about the situation were separate from the care he felt for Sam right now.

“It’s okay. We just didn’t know if it was serious or not.” Will said. “And I also did wonder if that was our fault, so thank you for saying it’s not.”

Clifford wrapped his arms around both his brother and dad, which was a bit difficult, but worked out after all. He had noticed Will was bothered, but he had been so lost in his own thoughts that for once, he hadn’t paid attention to his younger twin’s troubles. He felt a bit bad about that, so he tried to assure himself that it was fine. Will _had_ said he was too protective after all.

After their little impromptu cuddle session, Sam suggested that they should get out of the house for a bit. The air inside was stifling, he noted, and he began to open up the windows.

“It’s a nice day outside. The weekend’s supposed to be clear too, but you should make use of the weather now before your time is monopolized by your relatives.”

That’s how the two found themselves wandering the streets of the neighbourhood not thirty minutes later. It did feel a little like they were being kicked out of the house, but Clifford supposed it was for a good reason.

“Well, the air really was bad in there.” Will noted.

“Hmm.” Clifford hummed in agreement. “Did you feel that too, when we got home earlier?”

Will made a face. “I guess? It did seem like there was a bit of stress there.”

“…” he watched his younger twin for a moment. “What’s bothering you?”

Will sighed and shook his head. “Nothing.”

“You’re lying.” He smiled softly.

“Well, yeah. Okay, there is _something_ , but nothing important.” Will groaned and chuckled weakly.

They walked until they came to the small park where they had gone with their group when the Pines weren’t part of it yet.

“I want to talk to him.” Will said.

“Hm?” Clifford made an inquisitive noise, even though he had a good idea who Will meant.

“I want to talk to Bill. And…” he paused. “I want you two to talk too.”

“Why now?” He asked, a little frustrated. It had been such a chaotic week on that front already, having the reunion stress added in probably hadn’t been easy for Will either.

“I recharged the stone after he… did that. I think it ran out earlier.”

“What exactly did he do? He erased your feelings, right?”

“No, not really. He destroyed a portion of them.” Will frowned. “I actually kinda understand _why_ he did it, but those were still mine.” He smirked. “You know, he didn’t even get all of the ones he wanted gone, and they just sort of-” he gestured helplessly. “- re-grew? So, really, he didn’t _do_ anything permanent. Also,” Will smirked. “The whole thing started because I couldn’t keep my feelings to myself, as he said. Apparently, there’s a way to do that, but I have yet to figure that out. I do think I got something else, however. I’m pretty sure I’ve been bombarding him with feelings since Dennis birthday.” He grinned.

Clifford deadpanned at him. “The whole thing started because he didn’t like your feelings being near him, so now you’re doing that purposely?”

Wills grin fell a little. “Yeaaahhh. Probably wasn’t a smart move, huh?” he rubbed a hand over his face. “Urrrrgh. I don’t care, I just wanna talk this out. I can’t keep him locked away forever. This week was so fucking hard.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t pay attention.” Clifford frowned.

“No, no! Not because of you! I locked him up, but that included some things I actually needed for school!”

He must have had a look on his face, because Will waved a hand at him. “Not like- I know I can just try to study, but I’ve tried and it’s so difficult! I’ll do vocabulary for like, an hour, but then I take a break and the next time I try, they’re all gone! It’s like I literally can’t learn anything.” He pouted. “That’s not a stupid reason, Clifford. I don’t want to have to leave school or something just because I’m too much of a wimp to talk things out.”

“I don’t think you’re a wimp.” Clifford sighed. “But if you want to talk things out, do it.” He looked around the park for a place to sit down, then steered them to a nearby park bench. “There. Now, how do you want to do this?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you want to help Wirt avoid his terrible fate, you can suggest some costumes!
> 
> (Seriously though, he's super difficult, since he's the guy to usually just stay at home. I've been looking for a good costume for him for WEEKS. I wouldn't ask for help like this if it was easy TT_TT)
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT:  
> Aaaaannnnd, there's the stress mistake O.O  
> I had to change a line where I kept the family members names in brackets. I hope you all forget that, because those were real names.... ^_^'


	39. Family (from every angle)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> This chapter might get confusing at times. I’ll try to explain the relations, but if there’s any confusion, here’s a link to the family tree: https://sta.sh/03xbx6qpw8 
> 
> And holy canelloni, only a few chapters until the party.... We're about to reach a boiling point in several areas! >:D   
> (I'm honestly scared, but meh? xD)
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Holly~♥

He wasn’t really sure how to do this. Will wanted to talk things out with Bill, and for Clifford to stop hating the demon.

‘Which does seem like a logical stance to have towards this whole situation, but doesn’t he trust my judgement?’

“Well, I was just going to go for it.”

“What, you mean now?” Clifford looked a little nervous at that.

“Uh, yeah? I’m kinda losing the motivation to keep blocking him out, so if I don’t want to have this talk at an inconvenient time, I think it would be better to just do it now. Right?” he could see that Clifford was struggling to say otherwise, but he seemed unable to find good reasoning.

“Fine.” He grumbled after a minute or so. “We’re going to talk to each other. And if he tries anything, I’ll-…” he trailed off.

‘Probably realized there’s not much he can do.’

“You have my permission to slap some sense into me. Literally, if you have to.”

Clifford raised a brow at him to give his twin an incredulous look. “You really think that will do anything?”

“Sure.” He was lying. Will just hoped there wouldn’t be any problems, which was really too optimistic when he thought about it. “And I really don’t want to think about this more, because I’ll back out. We have to do this now, okay?”

And before he could even begin to change his mind again, he loosened the tense feeling that had been knocking in the middle of his skull for the past few days.

And nothing happened.

‘Um, Bill? I’m sorry? I guess?’

Seeing his twins face, he repeated himself out loud.

**‘Fuck off.’**

“He told me to fuck off.” He relayed.

**‘I hate you.’ They were EVERYWHERE.**

“And he hates me. But he says that often, so I’m not so sure he means it.”

**Bill wasn’t sure either right now. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore. Only five days. Five days of not cleaning up his mindscape and now-**

“I think he’s still mad, he’s not talking to me.”

Clifford shrugged. “Isn’t that a good thing? Perhaps he’ll leave you alone now that you showed him who’s boss.”

 **“He’s not the boss of me, I’m just- I don’t wanna talk to any of you!” He yelled at the older twin, then he retreated far into the depths of his side of their shared mind, trying to dislodge the** Feelings **he could still clearly discern as Wills.**

 **There weren’t many of them. The rest had all blended into his own** **Thoughts** **and** **Feelings.** **And even those he could recognize logically to be originally from Will – the very crush that had started this mess – were already so entangled in the foundations of his mind that they wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he pushed or pulled at them.**

Will was still listening for some sort of sign of the demon. “I guess he really just doesn’t want to talk.”

“Maybe he’s doing it on purpose.” Clifford grumbled. “I promise you, he’ll come back when it’s least convenient for you. Just keep-” he paused and made a face. “Okay, nevermind, don’t block him if you need him to learn stuff, but… I don’t know, just ignore him if he’s bothering you at an inopportune time?”

Will sighed, but smiled softly at the well-meant suggestions. “I can’t just ignore him.”

“He’s ignoring you, right now.” Clifford shrugged. “I’d say that seems fair.”

Will laughed at that. “You’re a great bro, you know that?”

Clifford frowned. “Well, I think- Why are you saying that now?”

“Because I keep pestering you to be less protective and stuff, but I just realized that- I don’t think I ever told you that. And I don’t know if that’s a twin thing, or if other siblings are the same, but it’s great to know that there will always be at least one person to have your back.”

Clifford startled him with a sudden sideways hug. It was a little uncomfortable, but that was fine. “Thanks. And-” he leant back again. “I don’t think all siblings are like that. I keep overhearing stories about fights and how annoying siblings are. Even Wirt told us he wasn’t on good terms with Greg for a long while.”

Will hummed softly in agreement.

For a few more minutes, the boys simply sat in silence and took in the park around them. They only moved when the sun was beginning to set and the shadows of the trees behind them stretched over their bench. When they returned home, Annie and Sam were acting like always, whatever spat they’d had before long forgotten. Annie had heard that they had sort of caught the tail end of their fight, and had pulled out some of the more quality snacks she kept tucked away for special occasions. They all settled down in the living room and the boys tried some of the different snacks, before settling on their favourite. Luckily, Will preferred the colourful Nerds over the pralines Clifford liked, so Annie gave them each the package to take with them.

Even if they did have meaningless fights, their parents were still great. Will went to bed wondering more than before how bad the rest of their family could be if the four of them got along so well.

\---------------------

 

Finn was amazing, Wendy was sweet enough to give you diabetes and their children - no, wait, just Finn’s children, right? – were both laid back and caring, so in Wills opinion, the slightly dreaded Reunion had been off to a great start. And sure, it was only really starting today, but meeting the four of them yesterday for tea had been both easy-going and fun. They had told them about their lacking memory and they had been accepting and comforting about it, which definitely raised his hopes.

He was currently brushing his hair– the right side of it, anyway, the left didn’t need it after all - in the bathroom upstairs. It felt strange not eating before leaving the house, in addition to being out of bed much earlier than he usually was, and Clifford had been bored enough in the time he’d had that he’d picked up a book he’d been reading and was now probably still sitting at the kitchen table, reading that instead of having breakfast.

In half an hour, they were going to meet up with the others at the café they chose for brunch.

“Boys, are you all ready? We have to go now!” Annie called them.

Will gave himself a once-over in the mirror, asked ‘Looks okay, right?’ and – when he got no reply, _again_ , he shrugged and darted down the stairs.

Clifford had taken his book with him and Will suddenly wished he had something to hide behind as well. Sadly, Dad was already pulling out of their driveway.

‘Oh well.’

The drive into town was short, so they quickly found themselves at the café. They were greeted by an elderly woman at the front doors.

“Oh, there you are! I was getting so worried!” she exclaimed in a slightly breathy voice and walked over, her hands shakily fluttering over Sam’s face, as if checking for injuries.

Sam sighed. “Carla, it’s 10:30. We said we would arrive at 11.” His mother, however, completely dismissed what he said and approached the two boys with a look of near reverence on her face.

“Oh, my boys I thought I’d never see you again.”

Suddenly they both found themselves in a hug. Will didn’t know about Clifford, but the fact that she was barely touching them as she did that seemed weird to him. The only point where she did was his shoulder, where the tips of her fingers rested.

“Um, yeah. Hi?” he tried, Clifford seemingly at a loss for words.

“You could have just behaved yourself in the hospital, then.” Sam said in a tone only slightly under regular conversation volume.

“Now, what did you get up to since you’ve been awake? Can you believe those assholes wouldn’t tell me?” She added in a not-really quiet whisper.

“Ummm…” Will was now at a loss for words as well.

‘Is she talking about our parents?’ He felt pretty insulted by that. ‘She’s saying that about Sam? Her own son?’

“Well, we healed. And went to school.” Clifford tensely tried to reply. “But it’s still a little tough.”

“Oh, that’s great, that’s great!” Carla nodded enthusiastically, as if they had just told her they’d won the lottery or something. At this point, Will was pretty convinced she must be either deaf or just really rude. Maybe both.

Seeing as both boys were now shocked speechless, Annie tried to regain Carla’s attention.

“CARLA!” she called. When the elderly woman had turned around, she continued in a deliberately louder and slower tone. “We are going to go INSIDE now, okay?” she gestured to the door to the café.

“Oh, yes, of course, Clara is already there, she’s keeping our seats warm.” She winked at Will. He had no idea what she was talking about, but nodded and tried to smile. He feared he’d been terribly wrong the other day. But perhaps Carla wasn’t so bad? She seemed mostly paranoid to him, with the way she was shaking and looking around all the time.

They found their table quickly, and the calm of their mom’s mother was relieving. “You’re early.” She observed, her gaze slightly steely, but softening when her eyes landed on the twins. “Oh my.” She stood from her seat and looked them both over. “You look so grown up. Do you even remember me?” She asked.

It occurred to Will that she wouldn’t have asked if she knew about their amnesia and he shot a helpless look at their parents.

“No.” Annie whispered, then continued in a normal tone. “I’m sorry, mother. They have amnesia, they lost all their memories. They don’t remember anything from before the accident.”

Carla’s voice rang out from the table. “Look how expensive these salads are, my lord!”

Will snorted at that. It probably wasn’t nice to laugh at someone’s deafness, but it just slipped out. “Sorry.” He apologized.

“Nevermind.” Sam had sat down and buried his head in his hands. “CARLA.” He said loudly to get her attention. “We just told you BOTH.” He emphasized with a gesture at her and Clara. “Will and Clifford.” Another gesture. “Have NO MEMORIES. Thought I’d tell you, because otherwise, you would just say we’re not including you.” He said the last part normally, if in a slightly defeated tone.

“What!” she exclaimed in a fake outraged way. “Their only sixteen, their memory can’t be going yet! I’m still doing fine, after all!”

This time, even Clifford had to hide a smirk, while Will struggled not to start laughing out loud. Annie touched her fingers to her temple. “They’re SEVENTEEN, Carla. Eighteen next month.”

“Oh my goodness!” A joyful voice exclaimed behind them. “Look at you!” The boys turned around and found themselves in another hug. This one was an honest one.

Will hadn’t thought there could be dishonest and honest hugs, but that’s what it felt like.

The young woman released them and stepped back, tears in her eyes. “Hello, you two! Do you remember me? It’s Pauline!”

Clifford seemed like he was about to say something, then held his tongue. Will caught his eye and shook his head. It occurred to him then that neither of their grandmas had introduced themselves.

“No? Well, you were about five when we last saw each other. Twelve years... It must have been a shock to you, poor boys.” Her genuine concern was touching, even if they didn’t remember.

“Hello.” A voice rang out behind her. “I’m Jenny.” Another woman stepped up to them. “I’m a friend of Pauline’s, I had business in the area.”

“The others are gonna be here soon as well, mom said she’s running a bit late, so they’re still waiting. We had a different hotel.” Pauline told their parents. Now accompanied by cheerful chatter about her and her siblings – and their families – trip here, everyone began to sit down. Sam and Annie took care to flank their children, while their grandmas took the next nearest seats across from them and Pauline sat down next to Sam, with Jenny at her side.

“And the kids were all delighted to be on their first flight. I let Leo have my window seat so she could look outside. Jack was all but pressed up against the windows the whole flight, so she didn’t have a chance to get a turn.”

‘Wait-’

“Leo is a girl?” he asked out loud, immediately embarrassed at his outburst. Apparently, Leo was a girl’s name too.

“Huh? Oh yeah, she’s the older one. Jack is her little brother. I know, it’s more of a boy’s name, but it’s used for girls too.” She seemed a bit sad as she said this, but it was gone as quickly as it came. She checked her wristwatch. “They should be here soon.”

Indeed, a few minutes later, a whole group of around ten or more people entered the café and made their way to the table. The sheer number made Will want to crawl under a rock, and he watched Clifford flip the book that had been lying on the table until now, so that it formed a sort of barrier between him and anyone else.

Suddenly, there was chatter everywhere, people asking left and right “Don’t you recall me?” and “Who are you” – from the children that is – as well as many congratulations and testaments of sympathy for their coma. Will saw someone hand Annie her jacket with the words ‘could you hold this for a minute, dear?’ and then leave her to find a hanger for it. It was all very confusing and chaotic.

“Everybody, settle down!” Sam called. All quieted down. “Now, we’re only waiting for Finn and company, right?” Everyone new settled into their chosen seats. The sudden influx of children took Will by surprise, despite seeing them on the family tree. There was a pair of twins, around nine years old, sitting a little way down the table, one of them beaming at them twins and almost bursting with excitement, the other showing her interest less obviously and nudging her sister now and then.

‘Paula and Patty? Or was it Anna and Patty?’ Will tried to recall. ‘Is there a Paula on the family tree?’

The baby carrier was the only single child, he knew that, with Marko and Sarah doting on Annie. The other two must be Jack and Leo. The pre-teen girl was already on her phone, disinterested in the going-ons around her, and Jack was loudly asking their mother for a cola.

They all decided to get drinks while they waited, and after ordering a Pitt Cola, Will tried to go back to hiding behind his silence.

Annie leaned over to him. “Should we tell them now? Finn and the others already know after all.”

The four Taylors shared a short and quiet conversation.

“I’m fine with that.” Clifford nodded.

“Yeah, I don’t think I can take another ‘Don’t you know who I am?’.” Will mumbled.

“It’s rude to whisper!” Carla exclaimed and wagged a finger at them.

Now, many of the others had already turned their attention towards them, so Sam sighed and raised his voice. “We have something to tell you.” Following his words, silence fell over the table. “As you all know, Will and Clifford have been in a coma for the past ten years. When they awoke, it soon became clear that their memory is-…” he trailed off.

Will decided to take over then. “We don’t remember anything.” Ignoring the gasps and sympathetic looks from the others, he continued. “Everything that happened before the accident is gone. We only know of the accident itself through the stories our parents and the hospital told us.”

“Oh.”

The soft sound came from several people at the table, before one woman continued. “That’s alright, we understand. In fact, I know someone who suffers from amnesia as well. She’s working with a therapist to regain her memories. Are you doing that as well?”

“We do go to therapy.” Clifford confirmed. “But we are not really-”

“Oh!” Carla exclaimed. “If you have anaemia, you have to eat a lot of sesame, or you’ll become retarded.”

Sam shook his head. “Not anaemia, Carla, they have AMNESIA. NO MEMORY. And you don’t-” he whined and buried his head in his hands. The woman from before took over. “Carla, it’s very rude to say that, and anaemia doesn’t make people stupid, that’s a myth.”

She nodded. “Oh, yes, yes, of course.”

Will got a feeling she still didn’t understand at all. Across the table, Clara sighed and stared down at her plate in a forlorn way.

Annie raised her voice. “Since they don’t remember, it would be great if you could introduce yourselves. We gave them your names already, but having a face to put it to might help.” A round of laughter rose, and then everyone around the table began to introduce themselves.

The woman with the friend going to therapy was their Aunt Cathy and the younger twins names were _Anna_ and Patty – not Paula at all. Also, as they introduced themselves, he spotted the similarities between Jane and Mary, his cousins, who were probably twins as well? His head was spinning once everyone was done introducing themselves. He did a headcount. There were now 22 people plus him and his parents and brother at the table. And they were still missing the four from their mother’s side, who had apparently overslept and were coming in the next hour.

Somewhere in the middle of introductions, a waiter had taken them down for the buffet the café offered, and one by one, their family members rose to get food.

Will chose to stay seated, since the table was now emptier and he had a chance to take a deep breath. On the other side of the table, Clara stumbled when she stood up to get food and suddenly, he found himself with a hand on his shoulder and a face on his blind side, in between him and Clifford.

“Should I get something for you too?” Carla asked eagerly.

 ‘What, can’t we get something ourselves??’ He frowned.

He could barely see Clifford shaking his head. “Ah, no thank you, we can get something to eat when there are less people at the buffet.”

When they were left alone – almost alone, there were still around six people at the table – Will sagged in his seat. Annie sighed beside him. “I’m sorry. We would have spread the separate meetings out a bit more, but…” she trailed off when Aunt Cathy returned to the table, in the middle of a story about her amnesiac friend. Will could recall Sam’s frustrations when she had taken over the planning of the Family Reunion.

He stood to get food as well, accompanied by his brother. A few of their relatives pulled them aside at the buffet asking them ‘come on, I’m your cousin so-and-so’ and ‘you gotta remember me’. And all throughout, they were called Cliff and Willard. He already lost count how many times he’d told them to call them Clifford and Will, but he was sure he must have told several of them twice. It was tiring.

Suddenly, a small hand poked him in the side. Ticklish as he was, he yelped and had to concentrate to not throw his plate of breakfast. Will heard a high pitched laugh in response. Beside him stood one of the twins – he had no idea which one – and she beamed up at him. He sighed, relieved it wasn’t another one of the adults, with their so obvious expectations.

‘Okay, children. I can do children.’

 “Your hair is cool!” she grinned. “Why is it like that?”

“Because it _is_ cool and I like it this way. Why is your hair like that?” he pointed at her braided hair.

“’Cause it looks pretty!” she beamed. “You’re twins, that’s great, how old are you?” she bounced in place.

“We’re 17. Next month, we’ll be 18.” He answered.

“Me and Anna are nine!”

“Cool, that means you’ll be ten soon, what’s the plan for the party?”

“We’re gonna go to the zoo!”

Anna comes over to them. “We should go sit down.” She pulls a little on her sister's sleeve.

“Okay! See ya!” With that, she walks off to their table, reminded by her sister to not run with a plate in her hands.

“They’re precious.” Will whispers to himself.

“I think I agree.” Clifford says behind him, still busy picking out his breakfast.

When they return to the table, Sam and Annie must have put their foot down or something, because they’re no longer getting bombarded by several people at once. Now, a few clusters of conversations form, and only one or two people are talking to them at once. It turns out to be much more comfortable, and the dread he’d been feeling in anticipation of the rest of the weekend all but disappears.

Finn, Wendy, Chris and Matt arrive nearly an hour later, and join the rest of the family. Almost everyone is done eating by now, with the few exceptions being the children, who have discovered the ice-cream and keep getting a little more food so they can have another dessert.

When they all split up for the way home, he is still relived for a few moments of silence in the car. However, after a minute, Annie sighs.

“Did you notice her? She was doing that thing again.” It was obviously addressed to Sam, but Will still asked what she meant. “She was sighing and groaning and acting like she was falling asleep whenever nobody paid attention to her.” She grumbled. “I hate when she does that, she acts like all the world hates her and no one really wants her there.”

“I hope so far it hasn’t been too much for you?” Sam asked seriously. “If it’s ever too much, tell us and go away for a while. Nobody will judge you, and if they do, I’m going to blame my sister.” He half-joked.

After sharing a look and shrugging, Clifford replied. “It’s fine, dad. We knew it was going to be a lot at once. I liked the kids.”

Will chuckled. “Yeah, they were the only ones who didn’t bother us much at all.”

“Then again, for them, you are just two new faces. They never knew you, only maybe _of_ you.” Annie explained.

“They don’t expect us to be like anything.” Clifford added.

“I think about four of them expected us to act like children, did you notice that?” Will asked. “I think it was Carla, two of our cousins – on dad’s side – and Cathy? They asked us questions, sure, but they didn’t really listen to us, I think. It was very confusing.”

“Well, Carla talks like that to everyone.” Sam shrugged. “And not everyone treats their children the same. We always talked to you normally, but some adults talk to children as if they are stupid. Which is a big mistake in my opinion.”

“As for why they think that you’re on the mental level of a seven-year-old – I don’t think we told them you go to high school yet. We should perhaps do that. Sorry.”

Clifford shook his head. “It’s no problem.”

The rest of the drive was silent, which Will considered a blessing later.

In the café, the parents had kept a tight leash on their children, both regarding running around and noise level, but in a private setting the three younger ones – excepting the baby, Maddie – were chaos incarnate. Leo retreated to a corner of the living room with her phone while her brother and the twins ran through the room and jumped on the couch until some of the adults told them to cut it out. They had settled down in the garden and the kitchen, occasionally moving through the living room.

Will decided right then he was joining the children for their games. He was not in the mood to deal with any more adults. Thankfully, the same problem from earlier seemed to work in their favour, and the ‘children’ were left to themselves with Chris and Matt as ‘babysitters’. Sure, Annie and Sam immediately started to explain, but Will just grabbed his brother by the arm and went off to join the kids.

With seven of them, they were able to play a few long rounds of hide and seek, as well as a round of tag that he lost spectacularly several times in a row.

“I’m – hah – gonna take a break here. Go on without me!” he pretended to faint on the living room carpet. After reassuring the gleefully cheering kids that he was not dead, just tired, they left him to play another round outside.

He settled down on the couch next to Leo, who had kept to herself most of the day. “Don’t you wanna go play with them?”

“Nah.” She shook her head. “I’m good.”

They sat in silence for a while, until Clifford came inside, out of breath. “I’m done. And the others are getting nosy again.” he sat down on Wills other side. “Mom and Dad asked if we wanted to come sit with them or if we wanted to rope a couple of people into a board game or something along those lines.”

The latter ended up being what they went with. They pulled aside Pauline, Jenny, Leo – who could actually sit still, her brother – and Sarah for the first, which went surprisingly well. In smaller groups like this, their family was much easier to handle than the chattering mass that sat outside in the garden. When they got Chris and Matt to play the next game with them, aunt Cathy joined as well, and before they knew it, Sam had fired up the grill and the sun was on its way down to the horizon.

“Well, what tests we’ve gotten back were pretty okay so far.” Clifford replied to Mary’s inquiry about their grades.

She laughed. “Well, perhaps you could tutor Leo, she could definitely use it with her English grades.”

By now, they had moved apart more, and while Clifford still took the seat on his blind side – something Will was pretty thankful about – they now had Chris and Matt to their left side and Cathy and her husband Mark to their right.

“Is she _still_ not getting better?” their aunt asked, and Will felt a bit irritated for Leo, who was sitting well within hearing range.

“Oh, you know her.” Mary brushed it off. “Too busy fangirling over baseball stars to study.”

Cathy burst into laughter.

‘I’ve heard more comments about baseball from you guys than from her.’ He made a face. He had nothing against the sport, but how often can so many people – meaning Cathy, her children and their families – get into such heated debates about the same team?

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He ignored it for the time being and instead re-joined the conversation, attempting to steer the subject away from the sport. “And we have this big Halloween party coming up at our school. One friend of ours doesn’t know what to go as, so we decided to just decorate him ourselves if he doesn’t find something by Sunday.”

“What are you going as?” Patty asked loudly, so that she would be heard from where she was sitting, near the end of the table.

“I’m a vampire!” he made claws and hissed, which made Patty squeal and giggle. He snickered to himself. “And Clifford’s gonna be a cool mafia guy. We got him a suit.”

“Woooow!”

“Who wants ribs?” Sam called and several hands shot up, the kids standing up in their seats.

While they ate, a comfortable silence settled over the family. Over the day, Will had seen that there were quite a few rifts and problems between certain people, but there was also a lot of love for each other. It felt warm.

**‘Ugh. I give up.’**

He flinched. He’d almost gotten used to not hearing from Bill during this week.

‘Now? Also, what?’ he frowned, irritated at the time the other picked and at the unclear phrasing. He should really have been used to the latter by now.

**‘Yeah, should have. And I’m giving up trying to get you to block your** _Feelings_ **. Clearly, you’re completely unable to do it. I literally made a wall, and you just blast through it again and again!’ he ranted. That thing had taken him so long and it kept getting destroyed whenever Will felt something even remotely strongly. Which was literally always.**

**The kid wasn’t just incapable of blocking his** _Feelings_ **, it was like he needed to share them.**

**And Bill was just. So tired of cleaning up.**

**Who cares.**

**So he had some useless Feelings now. Those weren’t going anywhere anymore.**

**Whatever.**

**‘If I ever make us do something stupid based on _your_** _Feelings_ **, it’s your fault anyway.’ He grumbled.**

‘I have no idea what your saying.’ Also, his phone was going crazy right now.

**‘And of course! That’s more important too!’ Some more** _Worry For Friends_ **on the useless _Feelings_ pile, why not?**

‘You’re being both confusing, and a dick at once. Why are you even mad for having _Feelings_?’

**‘Some _Feelings_ might be okay, but these are unwanted, useless at best and utterly gross at the worst.’ He pulled a random blanket from the air to cover up some of that growth that called itself a _Crush_.**

‘Well, I didn’t ask for you to go apeshit on my _Feelings_ , so excuse me if I’m not particularly compassionate about _your_ situation.’ Another vibration made him finally pull out his phone to see several messages from Cordy.

 **Cordelia, 4:23 PM:** Whoops, amlost forgot to clear the Babybel thing up.

 **Cordelia, 4:31 PM:** On it now :P

 **Cordelia, 5:04 PM:** OMG

 **Cordelia, 5:04 PM:** Will, are you there?

 **Cordelia, 5:05 PM:** Holy fuck. I can’t believe what just happened.

 **Cordelia, 5:11 PM:** Dude, my life is turning upside down, I need to talk to you.

 **Will, 5:12 PM:** What?

 **Cordelia, 5:11 PM:** Fucking hell finally

 **Will, 5:12 PM:** Did I see you using punctuation there?

 **\-- >** **Cordelia, 5:11 PM:** Dude, my life is turning upside down, I need to talk to you.

 **Cordelia, 5:12 PM:** Like I said.

 **Will, 5:12 PM:** so, what?

 **Cordelia, 5:12 PM:** I did it.

 **Cordelia, 5:12 PM:** I asked.

 **Cordelia, 5:12 PM:** She said yes.

 

He didn’t need to ask who. Despite the current situation, a large grin spread over his face and he quickly typed back.

 

 **Will, 5:12 PM:** Holy Fuck, that is great! Congrats!

 **Will, 5:12 PM:** Or whatever you say to that xD

 **Cordelia, 5:12 PM:** I’m so happy rn the world could end and I wouldn’t give a shit

 

“What are you so happy about suddenly?” Dave, the father of Patty and Anna, asked.

“A friend of mine just asked her crush on a date.” He said

“So, I’m figuring, he said yes? Or he said no, and you’re happy ‘cause you like her?” Cathy asked with a grin he thought was supposed to be sly. He shuddered.

“Ew, no. I don’t like her like that.” The thought made him overlook the rest of what she said.

“Well, you should hurry up and find yourself a girl! Shouldn’t be too hard, right?” She laughed.

And something nagged in the back of his mind. It took him a few more minutes and half a steak, but he finally figured it out.

‘Mom and Dad always talk about our possible ‘girl or boyfriends’. Cathy forgot to do that.’

**‘I can tell you right now kid, your parents are way more open to homosexuality than most people.’ He used to not care for any sort of sexuality (he thought? It seemed foggy.), but now, with all the stuff Will kept sending over that got stuck in the niches, he wasn’t even sure of that anymore.**

**Was he having an existential crisis? Is that a thing he could have?**

**As he kept watching this chaos that was a Family Reunion – almost inspiring in some sense – he wondered if he had changed much in the past six months.**

**He wasn’t sure if he would have chosen to die back then if he’d known where and how he’d end up if he lived.**

**Bill liked to think he wouldn’t have. He wasn’t** **that** **much different from his past self.**

**Right?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been having this song stuck in my head for days…  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyj4JFSErrw   
> But hey, at least it helped me find a name for Pauline’s friend ;D 
> 
> [Radnom family rant ;P]  
> Family is exhausting xD My own extended family can be a headache, but they’re still okay  
> Some might be more distant than others, but you can’t choose your relatives, right? What we can choose are our friends and partners, and they will be just like family. You don’t need to be related with someone to be loved by them.  
> (My parent’s circle of friends ALL showed up on my 18th birthday, just like that, completely unannounced and all gave a present together O_O I was so shocked, but it was so sweet <3 From my family, a few phone calls from everyone who wasn’t my grandmas, they came for tea xD)  
> [Random rant is over now ;P]
> 
> See you guys next week :D


	40. Preparations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> So...  
> I hate the next (two?) chapter(s?). I don’t know if I’ll be able to put everything that’s going to happen in one – I’ve been working on parts of this for months – and if I want to keep uploading a chapter each Sunday, I might have to split the Party into two chapters. I’m still going to do my best to keep it together, but it might be unavoidable. The frustrating part is, I’ve already written some parts of it, and now I kinda have to patchwork it together xD
> 
> Sorry for the rant, but I'm sorta frustrated with this whole party.  
> But for now, enjoy this bit of party preparations!
> 
> Holly~♥
> 
> EDIT:   
> I forgot to add the phot of Cordelia's scythe, thanks to Doctor_Pterodactyl for pointing it out! :D

In the opinion of the older Taylor twin, Sunday was a lot better than Saturday.

After having a night to sleep on the new revelations, their family members had calmed down a lot and the questions they were asked the most were now actually things they liked to talk about. Breakfast was spent discussing their school and hobbies and friends, a talk that included almost everyone at the table, but still didn’t get as confusing or loud as the breakfast they had on Saturday. The talk about their hobbies was interesting, mostly because everyone on Sam’s side of the family shared baseball as a hobby, which neither of the twins knew very much about. The time they had until lunch was pleasant too, and Leo had actually come out of her shell when the twins showed the other kids and teens their rooms. During lunch, he’d had a lengthy discussion with Mark, Cathy’s husband, about Germany. Apparently, his parents are German, so he knew a lot about the language and the country. At one point, he even looked over his homework and gave Clifford some pointers.

Around lunchtime, the boys had gotten a message that Wirt _had_ actually found a costume and that they could hold off their attack. He didn’t tell them what it was though. Will seemed a little put out by that, but then shrugged it off, saying they’d surely get to decorate _someone_ at _some_ point.

Will got along very well with Pauline and Jenny, as well as basically all the children plus Sarah and Marco. Then again, Sarah’s personality did remind him a lot of Will’s, so Clifford wasn’t really surprised by that. He also had a great garden talk with Finn and Wendy, both giving him suggestions on what to put in a vegetable and herbal garden. And really, the idea of actually growing something that could be used instead of just looked at was very appealing to him.

At some point after lunch, family members began to leave in small groups, and the last of them left around 6 PM for their flight home. When they had left, their dad closed the door, turned around and let himself collapse into Annie’s arms, who did the same. Miraculously, they stayed upright.

“It’s over!” he exclaimed. “And no one died!”

She reached up to pat his back. “I’m proud of you. You were really close to tossing some people out.”

“So were you.”

“Don’t start.”

Will had sat down near the wall and seemed like he could fall asleep right there. It was how Clifford felt, at least. Their parents noticed this quickly and decided that everyone should go and have some alone time.

“God knows we need it.” Sam sighed.

So, the boys made themselves some sandwiches to take to their rooms, while Sam holed himself up in his study and their mom claimed the living room to watch some TV. And sleep, most likely. She never seemed able to stay awake for long when she wound down even a bit.

Clifford ate his sandwich while reading in his bed. A week or so back, he’d found a book series about magic and detectives. Also, skeletons. So far, he had no idea how any of the bigger parts of the story were connected, but the humour was great, if a bit dark at times.

By now, his bedside table had begun to be a little cluttered. There was the current book or books he was reading, his normal diary and the separate ‘Memory Diary’ he’d started a while ago, as well as some pencils, so he could quickly write anything down if he had another strange dream or any new flashbacks.

There had been a lot of the family ones the past few days. He’d added about six or seven, but since he had to wait until the guests were gone to do so, he was sure he’d missed a few. There had been one that was about that other place - whatever that demon had called it, Unknown – but nothing much had happened, just another one of him running around in a forest looking for fuel to put into the lantern with what he supposed was Will’s soul or something. Very strange in hindsight, completely logical for Unknown-Clifford. Probably. There was a big difference between him as a tree and him while he was moving around with Will, like he had been so completely focused on that singular task of keeping Will alive.

Not that he minded that much, but it was still weird to compare the different states he’d been in in his memories.

By now, Clifford had separated the different versions of him. There was Cliff, the little kid, who he just wasn’t anymore, but who was still the roots of all the different ways he’d acted. He himself, now, Clifford, who had no idea what had happened or what was going to happen in the future. He felt like Tree-Cliff was closer to being that little kid, and he had a feeling that Unknown-Clifford was closer to him as he was now. Or maybe not? He was still a lot like Cliff, but that was obvious, because they were _all_ somehow that little kid and him _now_ simultaneously.

He groaned and put aside his book. He couldn’t concentrate on that now.

When did he start separating his past into these sections? Was that even normal? Cordelia had talked about ‘Kid-Cordy’ or ‘Little Dennis’, as if they were different people, so it must be okay to do that.

Despite trying multiple times to distract himself by reading, solving puzzles or listening to music, he was still thoughtful when he went to bed.

He didn’t sleep very well that night, and Monday morning came too quickly. For once, he actually overslept - which really just put him on the same schedule as Will, but it still felt hectic to him.

In school, their group tried to get a hint to Wirt’s costume from him, but he kept his mouth shut. The only thing they got out of him was that he intended to go as Poe, but had realized he had none of the materials he needed for that, nor the time to make them, so he had said a random thing that Greg had taken seriously. Now he was going as that – whatever _that_ was – and he wasn’t sure yet if he should be glad or embarrassed about it.

Will had seemed very happy with Cordelia about something, but he hadn’t really caught what was going on, since she hushed him after they’d been caught squealing and hopping up and down together.

With only two days left, he and Will decided that they would use the Monday and Tuesday to try out their costumes and possibly make last minute changes. Also, Will wanted to practice putting on the makeup so it would look even.

That’s how the two found themselves showing off their costumes to their parents on Monday evening.

Sam had seemed dubious when Will told him he was going to wear his yellow vest, but he admitted it did look good. “Would look better if the inside of the cape was yellow too. Or just black.”

Annie immediately offered to dig out her sewing machine and help him sew in a different fabric, if he wanted to do that. They agreed to go pick out a fabric tomorrow after school to replace the red one.

“It’s a great idea.” Annie said after Clifford showed his own outfit, then added that Clifford should get a plastic water gun or something to go with the rest of the costume.

“And maybe a fake cigar.” Sam added.

So, at the end of the evening, their parents had agreed to pick them up tomorrow after school to drive into town with them. Sam was going to go pick out some more accessories for Clifford, while Annie would go with Will to get fabric.

 

\--------------------------

 

After their separate Tuesday Gym classes, Will and Clifford were picked up by their mom and dad for their shopping trip. This time, they didn’t go to the mall, but instead, they looked through the smaller stores in town.

At a toy store, they got a BB-gun for Clifford, which he eyed sceptically.

“What?” Will asked. “It looks real enough.”

“That’s not it, I just wouldn’t use it for anything than as an accessory, and only this once.”

“If you won’t use it after Halloween, can I have it?” He didn’t know if he would use it for this, but he’d seen a video recently where someone had filled balloons with colour and paper-maché and put them up on a wall before shooting at them to make art. It seemed like something he could do to his wall with a toy gun. He told his brother this, since he still looked a little doubtful.

Clifford thought for a moment, then shrugged, seemingly convinced. “Okay, then.”

The nest store Annie pulled them into was a fabric store, where she and Will looked through the yellow fabrics while his father and Clifford stood around looking at patches and zippers. At least Clifford seemed a little interested in some fabrics.

“Here, what about this one?” He asked his mom.

She felt the fabric, then took a bit and wrapped it around her hand twice. “Hmm, no, that’s too stretchy, for beginners a less stretchy fabric would be better, or otherwise you might sew it in a way that makes it wrinkle all weird.” She looked through the rolls of fabric, then called out. “Here! This one’ll fit perfectly, don’t you think?”

He came over and ran a hand over the slightly velvety fabric. “Woah, this is soft. How much would that cost?” He didn’t want to go for the most expensive fabric, but this felt really nice. Plus, he was pretty certain it had the exact shade of his vest, so this _would_ fit perfectly. Looking closer, he realized the fabric actually _sparkled_ a little.

Annie checked the price tag. “This is just three dollars for a meter, so let’s see…” she pulled the roll off its shelf and carried it over to one of the tables where she unrolled a bit. She placed a nearby measuring tape on it and after a few moments declared. “Eh, roughly six dollars or so, so really nothing much. Two meters should be more than enough for that cape.”

When they went to pay for the fabric, Clifford actually stopped them to ask if they could make their own curtains.

“I’m sure we can. What did you have in mind?” Annie let him lead her to the brown fabrics, where he pulled a roll of sheer brownish fabric off a shelf, which had less see-through leaf designs in autumn colours on it.

Will stifled a laugh, but a giggle escaped anyway. When the leaves had started to change colour, Clifford had been fascinated and Will had never seen him collect this many leaves before. The green ones were still in his room, but he had almost doubled their numbers in less than a month once the trees in their area started to let them fall more. His room looked a lot like a forest threw up in it. Or at least, like the Flora did. He was still missing some woodland creatures.

‘Maybe he should get a pet.’ Will mused as he watched Annie nod and take him over to the big table to measure out how much fabric they would need. ‘I’m still thinking about asking, but somehow, the time never seems right.’

**‘Why a snake, anyways? Sure, it’s more interesting than a dog or a bunny, but why are you so set on a snake?’ There were a few of those here too, now. And he didn’t know who of them thought they were cute.**

‘Well, mostly because a corn snake would be easy to take care of. I think.’ He didn’t want to have an animal’s life on his conscience if he turned out to be too irresponsible to give them their daily meals or something. ‘At least a snake only eats once every week or so. The only thing I’d have to do is change its water and clean the terrarium once like….’ He gave a slight shrug. ‘Every couple months or so? Seems like it isn’t that hard.’

During his talk, he’d followed his family around and took the bags from Annie after she paid.

**‘Just ask them, I’m pretty sure they’ll say yes.’ At least, they were some of the more lenient parents he’d seen.**

‘Not now, we’re already buying all this stuff.’ He gestured with his bag.

**He heaved a sigh.**

“What is it?” Sam asked.

“Hm? Nothing.” Will shook his head.

‘Stop that.’

“Just a general weltschmerz-sigh?”

“A what?” he raised a brow.

“Sounds German.” Clifford remarked.

“Weltschmerz is a general weariness of the world, a sort of sentimental pessimism. Melancholy, perhaps?” Sam shrugged. “Something along those lines.”

“Oh. Then, yeah, I guess it was.”

In the next hour, they looked high and low for some more accessories for either of their costumes, but apart from some new hair gel for Will – Sam didn’t know if they had any left – they didn’t find anything good. Their parents did buy them sleeping backs, though, since the party was also going to be a sleepover. They hadn’t needed those until now, their friends had always had enough room for all of them, or they had just brought their own blankets. They weren’t quite as comfortable doing that at a school party.

After that, the family got some food at one of the small food chains before heading home, since they still had to sew that costume. Clifford kept them company while Sam returned to his study to work on the latest issue of a comic that needed translation.

“Alright!” Annie exclaimed after she had set up her sewing machine in the kitchen. “First of all, we need the cape.” She sat down next to Will and pulled over said garment, pointing out some stitches along the edges where the black and red fabric met. “See these? I want you to take this little thing-” she lifted a very small blade. “And cut open the stitches. Just watch out to not damage the black fabric. I doubt anyone would notice, but still.”

While he worked on separating the two fabrics, Annie went over to Clifford and told him to mark little rectangles on the fabric, using a slip of paper as a demonstration. “Those will be what’ll keep the curtains on their rod. Well just take them like this-” she touched the two short ends of the paper together. “- and attach the curtains at the bottom. Okay?” Clifford nodded and started to get to work as well. Annie looked over their shoulders and sometimes corrected them. Since Clifford’s job was just drawing a couple of rectangles, he was done a lot faster, and she told him to cut them out. Just when Will cape fell into two separate pieces of fabric, Clifford laid down the last rectangle on a small pile.

“Great, okay, now, Will, I need you to take the red fabric and lay it out on the yellow one. You should trace the borders of it, so you have the same shape and size. We just cleaned the floor, so you should be fine if you put the fabric down there.” He nodded and took one of the fabric pencils she’d laid out on the desk. “Good, good. Uh, Clifford? You need to fold these like this.” She demonstrated on one of the rectangles. “Then you need to sew them together, come over her?” she gestured to the chair next to where she was sitting at the machine. Once he sat down, she explained how it worked. “There’s this pedal down there, see what happens when I-” on the table, he heard the machine whir to life for a moment. “But there is no thread yet, so we have to just follow these arrows.”

He couldn’t really see what they were doing, so he just tried to focus on drawing around the red fabric.

**There were little arrows with numbers on them all over the machine. Annie led the thread through them in the order shown on them, moving fluidly all over the machine before showing Clifford that the machine was ready now.**

“And now it’ll sew!”

‘Woah, okay? Thanks, I guess.’

**‘I have my moments.’ He really just didn’t want to sit through that lecture again later, so he kept an eye and ear out for the new information and sent it over to Will.**

By the time he was done, Clifford was already sewing by himself.

“Looks good, both of you. Okay Will, now just- yeah.” She interrupted herself when he pulled the scissors from the table. “That.” She laughed.

They worked in silence for a while, until Will was done cutting out his fabric.

“Alright, Clifford? I need to interrupt you for a moment.” Annie let him finish up his current rectangle-thing, then told him to cut out the part of the fabric where he’d cut out the rectangles and go up to his room to see how long the fabric should be and where he would want to cut it, then draw that out and do so.

**While she did this, Bill had already put in a new thread and started up the machine, which startled Annie.**

“Oh god, don’t scare me like that, you could get hurt!” She looked over his hands, **as if he‘d had them under the needle when the machine started.**

‘Fuck off, she’s just worried.’ Will grumbled.

“Don’t worry, I just listened to what you told Clifford. This is all correct, right?”

She looked it over. “Well, yes. But still, please don’t do things like that the first time. Let someone else look it over first.”

While Clifford was gone with his curtain, Annie showed him how to sew the cape so that the seam wouldn’t show too much, then let him work on it by himself. By the time Clifford had returned, he was already done and Annie was stitching up the last little part per hand. “This seam might show, but it won’t be as noticeable up her on the neck.” She explained, then cut off the thread and shook out the cape to dislodge any stray pieces of thread.

“There. Looks good.” She laid it out over the table and Will ran his hand over it.

“Feels great too.” He grinned. “Thanks, I’m gonna go and try it all on.” He grabbed it and ran upstairs to check it out.

He still had the clothes out that he was going to wear to the party. His yellow vest, a white button-up shirt and some black pants. He changes quickly and tied the string of the cape around his neck. That was the only part that still annoyed him a bit. Then he had an idea. He grabbed his bowtie choker from its drawer and put it over the string in a way that made it almost unnoticeable.

**‘Looks good, I think…I don’t know if that’s a combination of your fashion sense and mine, or if it’s just straight up mine.’**

‘Well, I like it too, so it’s gotta be both, right?’

**‘Must be.’ He was sure he hadn’t leaked over anything big. Will had proven to be very much against other mental influences, even when he was still dead to the world. So, he must have just gotten lucky and found the one human that was already a lot like him in some senses. At least that made it easier to cover up his existence – or it should have at least.**

Seeing as it all looked good, he changed back out of the costume and into some more comfortable jogging pants and his sleeping shirt before heading back downstairs. Halfway down, he met Clifford and Annie who were carrying the new curtain upstairs, so he followed them to watch it getting put up.

“Hmm. I think I know what you mean.” Annie looked the result and pulled some of the curtains aside, at about the height of her hip, which made them drape and let in a little more light. “Like this?”

Clifford nodded. “We have leftover fabric, right? Can we make something like the hang-ups to keep it there?”

“Wow, getting fancy there.” She laughed. “I think we can do that, we just need your father to drill some holes in the wall where we can attach the fabric. But we can make the scarves to hold it there now, come on.”

Will watched them use the remaining pieces of fabric to make two scarves, then excused himself and went up to his room to get the vampire teeth he had gotten when he was at the mall with their friends.

Apparently, this was a DIY-set, and he ended up getting help from Annie to help him figure it out. There was some sort of waxy white stuff in there that could be heated up until it turned see-through, which would make it mouldable. Like this, it could be shaped around his teeth into any shape he liked, which explained the different sizes of teeth that were on the package.

He ended up sitting in the kitchen, biting down now and then to ensure that he would be able to chew with the teeth on. After a while, the wax – or whatever it was – had hardened and turned white again.

The result was a little whiter than his real teeth, but it wasn’t that noticeable. He could bite down and was able to eat a bowl of cereal with them. The only reason he allowed himself to try that was that there had been enough of the stuff to make at least one other set if this didn’t work. Getting the teeth out of his mouth was pretty easy too, and they clicked right back in when he tried to replace them, so all in all, they were great.

Then, Will spent the rest of his evening looking up some eye make-up tutorials for a vampire costume before turning to his video games.

 

\-----------------------

 

The party was starting at 5 PM, and throughout the day, Clifford had seen the seniors decorate the front hall and parts of the school with fake spider webs, carved pumpkins and other props. When he and Will left after their last class, they had been carting in all kinds of snacks and drinks.

Now, he really didn’t have much to do except put on his suit and grab the toy gun he’d gotten, so he just kept Will company while he was busy with his make-up and hair, checking the Elite group chat now and then for updates from the others.

“Anything new?” Will asked when he put down the sponge he used to put the pale makeup on his face.

He shook his head. “Cordelia sent a picture of her scythe.” He turned it to show his twin.

 

 

Will whistled. “That looks cool. And dangerous.” He turned back to the mirror and dabbed some dark blue under his left eye before switching to the hair gel and attempting to get the longer half of his hair away from the right one.

Once he got it to stay in place, he went back in with the dark blue, then switched to the eyeliner to draw a thin black line directly under his eye. “There. That looks good, right?”

“It does, yes.”

“Cool. Got the hair and makeup done, now we just need the teeth and the actual costume. You should put on your stuff too. Maybe gel your hair back too, that was in style in the ’20s.”

Clifford had an **off** feeling about the last remark, but he figured that had come from the demon. It was something that threw him for a loop. It was a _demon_ , why was he trying to help?

The teenager still looked up 1920’s gangster hairstyles and found that he’d been correct. After several attempts, he had something that looked close enough. His hair was getting longer again, otherwise it would have looked ridiculous.

He retreated to his room to get into his suit and pick up his gun and hat, and he had to admit that the result looked pretty cool.

“Admiring yourself?” Will teased when he entered his room, unannounced except for the sound of his feet on the floorboards. “Looks awesome though.” The was a _very_ slight lisp to his voice in odd places as he was speaking around the fake teeth in his mouth.

“You look great too.”

“I know right?!” Will beamed. The teeth actually made him look more mischievous, and the fact that both his eyes were visible was strange as well. “I’m thinking of keeping the hairstyle. For some days at least. I don’t know why I was so weird about my eye, it looks fucking awesome.”

They only had a bit over half an hour to go until the party started, so they went downstairs to get their new sleeping bags. After checking once more that they had everything – screw the toothbrush, even that wouldn’t save them on Halloween – they said goodbye to Annie. She handed each of them some money for drinks - seeing as the whole party doubled as part of the fundraisers the seniors planned to get money together for their graduation party - and then they left with Sam, who was driving them to the school.


	41. Everything’s allowed if there’s no teachers around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone!
> 
> Good news, I got one half of the chapter finished in time. Bad news, it had to be split in two because it was getting too long.
> 
> I put the costumes inspirations down below again (did you see the new chapter for In Between yet?), so you can make your own mental picture of their costumes before seeing the basic idea.
> 
> Have fun!  
> Holly~♥

They had all agreed to meet up at the gates at 5 PM, and when they arrived, Will had only spotted Cordy, who was only recognizable by her scythe. She wore a black cloak with red and white stylized clouds on it and had one of these conical Asian straw hats, with lots of white fabric strips hanging down from it, so even her face was covered. Thankfully, the giant scythe was kinda hard to miss.

“Nice scythe!” he called. She pulled nudged her hat back to reveal that she had coloured her hair silver – with a bit of orange still shining through – and had gelled it to stay out of her face.

“Thanks! Nice cape, what did you do to it?” she whistled.

“Mom helped me sew in a different fabric.” He pulled Clifford over. “What do you say to this?”

“Neat, looks like a don. Or a dom.” she grinned when Clifford tilted his head in confusion.

‘Do I want to know?’

**‘Sexually dominant. A term mostly used with the connotation that he’s tying people up for sex.’**

Will made a disgusted face.

“Oh god, you actually got that?” Cordy screeched with laughter. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to put that image in you precious child brain.”

“What image?” Dennis showed up at their side, completely in black and with a way less impressive scythe at his side. He looked up at Cordy’s, then shrugged. “It’s not a competition, Deli.”

“I’ll have you know I’ve made this scythe months ago.” She retorted.

“You guys look great.” He nodded.

“Thanks, you too.” Will replied in kind.

The four of them didn’t have to wait long for the next of their group to show up.

“What do you think he’s supposed to be?” Cordy whispered when they saw Wirt walk up to the school gates, some drapery fabric pooling at his sides and some sort of fluffy antennae on his head.

“Some alien? His face looks weird.” Dennis considered, referencing the strange markings on his face.

“Hi.” Wirt sighed when he came into hearing distance. Now Will could see the markings more clearly, and he was inclined to agree with Dennis’ alien theory.

“You look… alien?” Cordelia tried.

He shook his head and sighed. “For the record, it was Greg’s idea and my mom’s makeup.” He paused and put down his stuff before turning and spreading out his arms. The pale brown fabric around him was attached to his arms and held up with thin wires, so when he did, it looked exactly like the spread wings of a butterfly. The only thing that made Will discard that was that while the wings did look like a butterfly’s, they were far less colourful.

“A moth?” Cordy asked. “You went as a moth?”

“Uh. Yeah. It’s a costume, so don’t try to stick stuff on me!” he turned back around and lower his arms.

“No, no! It looks awesome!” she defended. “And the makeup looks fucking awesome, too.”

“Well. Th-thanks.”

“So, how did it come to this?” Dennis asked with a gesture at his costume.

“Oh, uhm, I _did_ actually want to go as, um, Poe, but I wouldn’t have been able to get the costume in time for the party, so I made an offhand remark of going as a moth, ‘cause-” he interrupted himself there. “Anyways, Greg heard and decided that was cool and got out all these pictures of different moths, but I managed to get the idea of these fancy blue and green ones out of his head. Then we looked for moth costumes and found this. The makeup was really the most difficult part, but my mom managed that really well.”

Before he could say anything more, they were interrupted by their remaining two group members. “Hey, guys!” Mabel called from their car. She had apparently taken the skeleton shirt and attached a silky black skirt and some ruffled shoulder-thingies to it. There were some red roses in her hair and on the dress itself.

Dipper had put on a black coat over the skeleton shirt and put a rose in one of the buttonholes, which did go well with Mabel’s outfit and the red band that was slung around his top hat.

‘Yep. Still looks adorable.’

**‘Shut up, I hate you.’**

For a second, when Mabel’s eyes had drifted over their group and came to a halt at the sight of him, he felt like he had forgotten something important.

**‘Yeeaaah. You forgot the necklace.’**

He only barely kept himself from reaching up to his neck. ‘Fuck, why didn’t you tell me?!’

**‘It’s a party and I wanna get to have fun too.’ As much fun as human parties wee, anyway.**

‘I hate you.’ He threw back the demon’s earlier remark.

However, as luck would have it, Mabel was distracted by Cordelia and hadn’t seen the panic he was currently experiencing. Around him, the others started moving, which clued him in that they appeared to be heading inside.

From the entrance hall to the auditorium, the school was full of decorations and signs leading the way. There were already a few people milling around in the auditorium, where all the chairs had been cleared away to make room for a dance floor, with a DJ getting ready on the stage. The room was a very curious mix of cheap and elegant, with the latter stemming from the architecture itself and the former from the fact that all chairs were cheap plastic. It looked as if the school had wanted an impressive space for briefings of the student body, but then ran out of money and had to get garden chairs as sitting arrangements. The positive was, that now the upper half – yes, there was one of these balconies – was now filled with tables and said chairs, while the lower part of the room could be cleared for the dance floor, with some tables with snacks and drinks near the stairs. The windows had been covered by black fabric and carved pumpkins and spooky fairy lights lit up the tables and the few spaces that needed light.

Before they could go any further, the seniors stopped to ask the younger students to wait outside for another fifteen minutes or so, since they’d made a miscalculation with the timing and people standing in the way of things would just delay it further.

Seeing as the seniors didn’t even have any real costumes on so far – though Will spotted some with masks or costumes that could take the person wearing it working – they easily agreed to wait outside, where a little bar of sorts had been set up, and a guy was mixing together all sorts of fruit juices and sodas in a big bowl. The sign next to it notified them that the punch was a dollar the same for having plain juice or soda, but getting an own drink mixed would cost two.

“Seems fair enough.” Dennis shrugged.

They each got themselves a drink before the rest of their grade decided to, then picked a spot in a corner near the auditoriums door to wait.

“Well, at least the punch is great.” Dennis shrugged.

“Waiting is still boring.” Will pouted. Dennis was right, though, the fruit punch stuff _was_ awesome.

“They said it wouldn’t be too long.” Cordy shrugged.

For the remainder of their waiting time, they began a game of trying to figure out what the other costumes were supposed to be.

“See that?” Cordy tilted her head towards a group of girls who had simply pasted some printed out Snaptext filters and were wearing them as masks. “It just doesn’t look like they put in much effort, even if it might be considered creative, these are made of paper. They won’t last longer than a couple hours. Where is the fun in that?”

“Deli, you have a giant scythe.” Dennis sighed. “I’m surprised no one has banned that thing yet.”

“What is that guy supposed to be?” Clifford pointed at a boy with a red and white striped shirt on and a poofball hat in the same colour scheme.

“Welp, Clifford found Waldo.” Dipper remarked with a short laugh.

“That’s a character from a children’s book.” Dennis explained. “There are tons of things on the pages and you have to find Waldo in that mess.”

“There are also a bunch of things in there that look like him, but aren’t really him, so it can be really difficult.” Cordy added. “I have some I could borrow you guys.”

There were a couple more costumes that the others had to explain to the twins, but none of their friends seemed bothered by their lack of knowledge about them.

Suddenly, the ground shook with the volume of the music staring inside the auditorium.

“Alright, everyone!” A senior girl dressed as a witch opened the auditorium doors, the music blaring through into the hallway. “Everything’s ready! Come on and party!”

Cheers rang out and the teenagers piled into the – thankfully large – auditorium.

Now, there was the addition of a couple of fog machines and laser beamers in some of the corners of the dance floor.

“How the fuck are we supposed to top this next year?!” Dennis yelled over the music.

“Shut up, this is awesome!” Cordy shouted back before running for the stairs. “I’m gonna save us a table!!”

“THANKS!” Dennis shouted after her, then began to follow at a slower pace. The rest of the group came along as well.

It turned out to be a good idea to get some seats before anyone else found them, and they all sat down for a minute. The table Cordy picked was right by the banister, so they could look down on the auditorium from there. The speakers up here were turned off too, so it was _minimally_ more quiet than downstairs.

‘What now?’

**‘Really?’**

Will huffed. ‘Yes, really! I have no idea what people do at parties like this!’

**‘Ugh, you already got a drink, so go dance or something.’ Human parties were so boring.**

‘I can’t dance!’ he protested.

**‘Look at these dudes.’ Bill directed his gaze to the other students who were already ‘dancing’. Or something like it. ‘You think you can’t do at least that? Noone here wants you to do the Waltz.’**

‘You’re not helping at all. I get that you’re supposed to dance, but what else?’

“Hey, I’m gonna get some more drinks.” Cordy stood. “Anyone want to come with?”

Will nodded. “I’ll go.”

“I’m coming too!” Mabel stood up and attached herself to Cordy’s arm.

The other’s still had something to drink, so the trio went down to the drink stands at the stairs.

After standing in line for a few minutes, they came up to the table to realise the punch here was a different one than the one outside.

“Yeah, Tommy is making fruity stuff, if you want that, go to him.” The teenage barkeeper – dressed for the occasion – explained. “I made something spicy and Jennifer over there has cocoa.” He pointed across the auditorium towards the other staircase.

“What’s this called?” Will pointed at the red liquid that looked more like tomato juice than something that belonged in a punch bowl.

“No idea. I’m looking for a name, I just mixed together some stuff until I found something spicy enough that still tastes good.”

“I wanna try that now.” Cordelia laughed.

They ended up with a glass each and brought it back upstairs to their table, agreeing to wait with drinking it until the others could see.

“What is that?” Clifford looked as sceptical as Will had anticipated, with Dipper close behind.

“No idea!” he chirped and took a sip. It was hot alright. “Phew.” He breathed out. “Does magma taste like something? I think it might taste like this.”

“No way, it’s that spicy. Can I try?” Dennis asked. “I might like it.”

“I didn’t say it was bad.” Will handed over the plastic cup. “I like it, it’s just really fucking hot.” It was actually really weird, but cool. He could feel heat in the back of his throat all the way down to his stomach.

After taking a sip of hers Mabel decided it was too much for her. “Nah, this is too spicy for me. Do you wanna try, bro?” She handed the cup to Dipper.

“This is amazing.” His eyes lit up.

“Really?” She made a face. “That’s just tomato sauce with-… I don’t know, lots of habaneros or something.”

“It’s still good.” Dipper shrugged and then smirked, before chugging the entire cup.

Mabel made the most disgusted face yet. “Eeeew, Dipper.” She shook herself.

Cordelia did drink hers, but she said it was too much for her to get a second cup. Therefore, after about ten minutes of chatting with his friends, Will found himself at the same drink table again, this time with his brother, Dipper and Dennis. The girls had made it their job to pull Wirt out onto the dance floor with them.

“So, I guess they sorted it out?!” Dipper asked, louder now that they were downstairs.

For a moment, Will didn’t catch on, then he gestured towards the girls. “You mean Cordy and Mabel?”

“Yeah, that’s been coming for a while now hasn’t it?” Dennis nodded.

“What?” It was almost sad how confused his twin looked right now.

Will chuckled to himself, then decided to help his brother out. “Cordy’s been crushing on Mabel. I don’t know for how long-?” he looked to Dennis for clarification.

“She’s been talking about her since they started doing that improve thing together.”

“So, that would be the past year or so.” Dipper nodded.

“Yeah.” Will hesitated. He didn’t really know if it was his place to say, but none of them seemed to have a problem with the crush.

“How do you know?” Clifford just seemed more lost than before. “Just because she talked about Mabel a lot?”

“Well, partly.” Dennis shrugged. “She seemed happier whenever Mabel came over too. In that ‘has-a-crush’-way.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Ugh, it’s difficult to explain.” Dennis groaned. “Especially to someone who’s just too clueless to see it.”

“I think they’re together now.” Will final decided to say.

‘If it’s really that obvious to the other’s, they surely won’t mind.’ He figured.

“Yes!” Dipper exclaimed with a grin. “Mabel has been in a mood for weeks about this. Thank god.”

The boys watched the girls, who might have convinced – more like, dragged – Wirt to be _on_ the dance floor, but were currently having trouble actually getting him to dance as well. They didn’t seem like they were getting anywhere.

When the boys had their turn, Will ordered another one of the ‘Hot Sauce Mix’ – a name the student behind the bar immediately shook his head to after trying it out – Dipper and Dennis got one as well, just Clifford got himself a plain soda.

“I don’t understand you guys.” He shook his head. “It’s just hot. It doesn’t even taste like much.”

“Actually,” Dennis started as he took a sip. “I can taste tomato and I’m somewhat certain there are habaneros in here.”

“Ew.” Clifford took a sip of his soda. “I’m happy with this, thanks a lot.”

Now with drinks, they returned to their table and watched the other students from above.

“Honestly, I don’t even like parties that much?” Dipper suddenly sighed. “But Mabel is all about it, and I’m fine people watching, so- …if you wanna go down there, that’s fine by me.” He lifted his cup a bit with a nervous chuckle. “Might take a while until I’m fun to party with.”

A moment later, Dennis sputtered and nearly choked on his drink “Dude, what?!” He put his cup down and pushed it a bit away from himself. “I knew it!”

“What?” Clifford raised a brow and cast a suspicious look at Will.

He took another sip, trying to figure out what his friends were talking about. “Uh, what is going on?”

“They’re putting alcohol in there?” Dennis asked Dipper incredulously.

“You didn’t notice?” Dipper frowned and looked at Will.

“I never had alcohol. We aren’t allowed, you know.” He shrugged. Dennis groaned and facepalmed, murmuring something unintelligible to himself.

“How did _you_ notice?” Clifford redirected his suspicious look to Dipper.

He shrugged. “I’ve had alcohol before. And as long as there’s a guardian present, it’s allowed. For practice in a safe environment or something.”

Dennis made a thoughtful face and tilted his head from side to side before nodding. “Okaaaaaaay…. this is still delicious, so I’m gonna drink it. Because it’s great and I paid for it. But after that, I’m going back to soda.” He took his drink back.

‘Should I do that too? It is really good, and Dipper acts like it’s no big deal.’

**‘I have no idea how much your human body can handle.’ Then again, if he did get him to drink, they might actually party tonight instead of sitting in a corner and going to sleep at ten. ‘Go for it. If anything happens, you have six friends and a senior grade that doesn’t want to get caught on your side, so you’ll be fine.’**

‘You dismissal of my concerns is very suspicious to me, but I agree with Dennis that this shit is delicious.’ He went to take another sip, but was intercepted by Clifford.

“You’re not seriously drinking that still?” He asked with a scowl.

“Dennis is right. And it’s not that much. I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t you remember what the teacher’s said?”

“Wait.” Dennis interrupted before he could answer. “Mr Stonefield again? Because I can tell you right now what two cups of whatever this cocktail is will do. He might get tipsy, if he’s a lightweight, he might get drunk, but usually I’m a real fucking and I’m doing okay right now, so I’d estimate that two cups might even do some good. It loosens people up, and makes things more fun if you don’t overdo it. And honestly, I think you two are the only ones who have no experience with alcohol, that means we still have five people in our group who can tell you when you’re getting drunk instead of tipsy.”

“Mabel doesn’t like drinking that much, but she can still see the signs in other people as well as I can.” Dipper added. “I don’t know about Wirt and Cordelia though.”

“Deli is Irish.” Dennis deadpanned. “I know for a fact her parents let her try her first drink when she was like, 14 or so. I think she doesn’t drink much, but every once in a while she tells me about something tasty she found and wants me to try. She prefers wine when she does drink though, so she probably won’t go for this.” He lifted his cup. “And Wirt is a mystery to me too, but I have a hunch he’d be on your side with this.” He gestured at Clifford.

“So, that is what burns so much?” Will asked with a look at his drink.

“Yes and no.” Dipper took another sip. “I’m pretty sure they use the hotness of the peppers to cover up the burn of the alcohol.”

“What about the teachers?” Clifford looked around. “Isn’t this still illegal? Why aren’t they reporting us?”

Dipper cast a glance across the lower part of the auditorium. “Do you see any teacher’s in here?” He grinned. “There’s a sign at the door: No drinks allowed outside. Some seniors added underneath that they don’t want to clean up spills all over the school, but really, it’s just so the teacher’s – who are only patrolling outside – don’t catch them.”

Dennis whistled. “That’s sneaky.”

Clifford frowned. “That’s a massive oversight on the teacher’s part.”

“And I think they’re doing it on purpose.” Dipper stated. “I don’t have any proof, but all the teachers who signed up to patrol are the chill ones. They don’t care much about what we do as long as no one gets hurt.”

“I love this school.” Dennis sighed, and Will couldn’t discern any emotion from the statement, positive or negative.

Just then, the girls returned Wirt to their table. “What’s up, guys!” Cordy beamed.

“There’s alcohol in the hot stuff.” Dennis stated.

“Ooooh! That’s what it was!” she exclaimed loudly. Wirt looked shocked.

“How much?!” Mabel asked Dipper with a slightly worried look.

He laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s much less than anything Grunkle Stan makes.”

“Still! Don’t overdo it!”

“I won’t. And you’re yelling.” He informed her.

“Oh! Oh. Sorry, the music is really loud next to the speakers.” He volume changed funnily in that sentence, since she had to remind herself to lower her voice.

“It’s fine. And hey, why don’t we all play a round of cards?”

“Oh, yeah! I have a poker deck!” She exclaimed and rummaged through the small handbag she had with her.

“How does it work?” Clifford asked.

“Why is everyone just okay with the _alcohol_ _in the school_?!” Wirt squeaked.

Cordy shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. We know how to handle ourselves. Just don’t drink any.”

“H-how would I even know which drinks have alcohol?!”

“It’s just the hot stuff, I think.” Dipper explained.

“My soda is fine.” Clifford looked down at his drink, suddenly looking as if he expected it to betray him.

“So, poker-” Mabel had finished shuffling and started to explain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These were the costumes I found that inspired the ones all these dweebs are wearing:
> 
> I’m sure you all can imagine Clifford as a Mafia mobster, but here’s a pic anyways: http://www.buygangstercostumes.com/gangster_thin_striped_costume.html 
> 
> Will’s actually really fucking pale, he doesn’t go out much after all. Clifford’s been getting some tan, but with only minimal makeup, Will’s skin looks like death.  
> https://www.smiffys.com/products/fever-male-vampire-costume 
> 
> Wirt was really difficult to figure out, thank you guys for all the sweet suggestions, even if I ended up doing something different, I wouldn’t have found this costume without looking for one of your suggestions first (you know how the search engines can get, showing you stuff that has nothing to do with what you entered? Yeah.)  
> https://www.amazon.com/wings-costume-butterfly-fairy-clothing/dp/B07MVH6D62   
> This was the inspiration for his makeup: https://youtu.be/JLha7e1QiZs?t=822 
> 
> Dipper and Mabel, dear god, I was scared I wouldn’t find a twin costume, and then it just jumped at me like that xD   
> For Dipper, you can literally just imagine the Bipper suit over a skeleton shirt, with a rose in it and a tophat with a red bandana.  
> https://www.smiffys.com/products/day-of-the-dead-senorita-costume-with-printed-top
> 
> Cordelia was easy, she’s a bit of a weeaboo, and I already had this ready, so there:  
> https://www.deviantart.com/heatherdragongirl/art/Hidan-Cosplay-488614001   
> In addition to that, here’s a picture of the actual character, so you’ll know what she’ll look like from the front (I’m not putting my face on the internet willy-nilly! xD)  
> https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/naruto/images/6/6e/Hidan2.png/revision/latest?cb=20160110022947
> 
>  
> 
> Dennis is a regular Reaper. He just didn’t care that much. All the other’s either love Halloween, dressing up, or they have some issues with the holiday, so they’re approaching this in a different way. He just wants to goof off and scare some people for once.  
> https://www.costumesupercenter.com/products/mens-plus-size-grim-reaper-costume?via=5740cafb69702d47f801b82a%2C5740cb1069702d47f801d732%2C5740cb1d69702d47f801e5e1


	42. Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> A warning for this chapter: there are some homophobic slurs in there. Additionally, several uses of 'bullshit', if that bothers anyone.  
> Asshole characters and such. Also, I think I'm bad at slurs, which is probably actually a good thing ^-^'
> 
> And holy hell, I thought Chapters 41,42 and 43 would fit into one, what was I thinking?? xD  
> This is one eventful party, I'll say!
> 
> Enjoy!  
> Holly~♥

“What are we betting?”

The question had the teens scout the tables in a corner for sweets, and when they found the snack table, they decided to each buy three dollar worth of sweets, then return to the table and bet that.

Seeing as Mabel started off being the dealer, Cordelia placed a single piece of candy in the empty cup they had placed in the middle, then Dennis followed with a gummy and some sort of cracker.

From what Clifford had gathered, these two were required ‘blind bets’. Mabel dealt each of them two cards, which she had explained earlier had to be kept secret. She had also rattled off a list of hands that were better or worse than others, but after a bit, Dipper had stopped her and pulled up an online help sheet for Will, which was now laid between the twins. Pretty soon, everyone except the Pines had one of those lying in front of them, ready to help them out with their hand.

“Who starts?” Cordelia asked.

“The person left of the big blind, so Wirt.” Mabel explained. “So, what do you wanna do? You can also put out two candies, or more – usually it’s double, but we’ll bend the rules for this, or you’ll run out of candy too quickly. You can also give up for this round.” She smirked.

Wirt’s face steeled. “I’m not giving up, I’m giving two as well.”

So, now it was his turn, with his ten of clubs and 3 of spades. He had no idea what he was supposed to do with this, but he also didn’t want to just go out of the round without reason, so he put two pieces of chocolate into the cup.

Will stared into his hand for a good ten second before Mabel piped up. “Uh, hello? It’s your turn?”

He startled and nodded. “Oh! Yeah, I know, sorry. I still don’t really get it.” he chuckled. Then he put two candies in before stopping Dipper, who was already reaching for his candy pot to place a bet. “Wait!” he placed another one of his into the cup. “Now.”

“Okay, then.” Dipper shrugged and placed three into the cup. At Clifford’s confused face, he explained. “You always have to bet at least as much as the last person did.”

Mabel nodded and gave three as well, followed by Cordelia and Dennis.

“Now!” She put away the top card of the deck and laid out three more cards in the middle of the table. A six of spades and two jacks, heart and diamond. “Everyone check your cards and make your bets. This time, Cordelia starts.”

Cordelia grinned widely and placed two candies in the pot in the middle. Dennis raised a brow and added three.

Judging from Wirt’s flabbergasted look, he might be loosing. He sighed and put his cards down. “I fold.” He grumbled.

Clifford looked down at his own cards and did the same. There was not a single match there. Will thought for a moment, then put three candies in as well.

Dipper whistled, then folded. “I’m out.”

Mabel nodded. “Me too. Now-” she put another card away and added the seven of hearts to the middle row. “Another round of bets, Cordelia starts again.” The redhead hummed, then shook her head and put her cards down.

The reaper boy went ahead and added two more candies into the steadily filling cup. Since both Wirt and Clifford were out, Will was next. This time, he looked at Dennis critically and dropped two into the cup as well.

“Aaand, we’re out.” Dipper said and took another sip of his drink. “So it’s just Will and Dennis now.”

“Okay, you two, reveal your cards!”

The three turned over the cards, and after a moment of contemplation, Dennis leaned back. “Oh well.”

With the middle cards, Dennis had… a pair. And it was the one that the jacks laying in the middle made. “I thought he was bluffing.” He referred to the three of a kind Will had with his own jack of spades.

Will grinned and got his winnings, emptying the cup into his own. “I like this game.”

“Well,” Dipper started. “you might have just been lucky to have a good hand. You’re not going to win every round, you know.”

And then he did.

It was almost funny, how quickly Will took to the game, and after only a couple of rounds, he had gotten all the candy from everyone else at the table. Still, he decided to put the full cups – he had to borrow Clifford’s to fit all the candy – into the middle of the table to share.

“It was fun enough to kick your butts.” He grinned, before emptying his drink. “Now, who wants to get something to drink?”

Dipper immediately agreed and the two skulked off to get more – most likely alcoholic – drinks.

“Is no one going to stop them?” Clifford asked Mabel, who was looking after them with a strange look on her face. She looked at him, then averted her eyes to the deck of cards in front of her. She shook her head slightly and answered in a distracted fashion. “They’ll be fine.”

Then she took a hand of cards from the deck, twisting and turning it around.

“What?” Cordelia laughed. “Can’t believe little Willy-Billy is just good at poker?”

Mabel flinched. “No! Not that good! He has to have been cheating. I just don’t know how…. I think.” She mumbled something quietly enough that it didn’t carry across the table to Clifford.

“What?” Cordelia asked.

“Nothing!” she waved it off. “You’re right. I used to be so good at poker.” She pouted.

He had a feeling she was not entirely honest, but he let it go the same way Cordelia did. Mabel was just putting away the cards when their siblings returned.

“Aww!” Will exclaimed. “Why can’t we play another round? It doesn’t even have to be poker!” he begged.

Mabel’s strange look from earlier returned, then intensified into a glare. “No! You’ve been cheating!” she accused.

“Woah!” Will raised his hands in an attempt at a pacifying gesture, slightly impeded by the cup he just got from downstairs. “I would never.”

“Then why do you keep winning?”

“Hey, maybe he’s just good at poker.” Dipper repeated Cordelia’s earlier statement, which made Mabel grumble. “Besides, maybe Grunkle Stan’s ‘tips’ just aren’t as effective as you thought.”

Her face turned a vibrant red. Dennis burst out into laughter. “Oh my fucking god, that’s rich! _You_ were cheating! And now you’re pissed that it didn’t work! Wahaha!”

“W-Well-!” her apparent lack of a response to the accusation sent him even more into his hysterics, which also set off everyone else.

“I mean!” Will giggled. “Of course! Of course, I was cheating! I just learned what the hell poker is, I had no idea what I’m doing! I didn’t even realize I was cheating! I’m so sorry, I’ll never to it again!” he gasped out between laughs.

“Well, peeking is considered cheating!” Mabel huffed.

“I didn’t see him peek!” Dennis chuckled, winding down. “But seriously, can we play another round of something? How about Bullshit?”

“What?” Wirt asked. “I never heard of that.”

“You deal out all the cards, then everyone tries to get rid of them.” Dennis explained. “It’s a bit like Uno, just that you have to play them in order, you know: Ace, One, Two, et cetera, Ten, Jack, Queen, King and then Ace again. However, you play them face down and call out their number. If someone thinks it’s bullshit, they say so, and if they’re right, you have to pick up all the cards that have been played. If they are wrong, they have to take it.”

Mabel narrowed her eyes, obviously still in a bit of a mod. “Fine.” She hands the deck to Dennis. “You deal.”

After dealing, Dennis held three cards in his hands. “Uuuh, could you guys count your cards?” After reaffirming that they each had seven, Dennis shrugged and put the three in the middle and laid a hand over the top one as if to flip it, then paused. “Okay, these are just extra penalty. Whoever is starting has to place an Ace. Everyone pick a number, the one who comes closest to this one has to start.”

“Three.” Will went first.

“Seven.” Dipper said and took a sip of his drink.

“Uh, ten?” Wirt picked.

Clifford chose Five, Mabel picked Ace – Dennis made her pick whether it was the highest or lowest card, she picked highest – Cordelia went with the Queen and Dennis finished with Six.

“Clifford goes first.” Dennis flipped the card over and revealed a Five of Hearts.

Then flipped it back over.

Clifford took the Ace of Clubs from his hands and put it down. And then he witnessed something that was both interesting and worrisome.

For a fraction of a second, Mabel looked as if she was about to say something, then she cast a look at Will and slumped back in her seat. Will, without looking up from his own cards, raised a brow, before Cordelia loudly yelled: “Bullshit!”

He could have missed the whole thing if he’d blinked and suddenly, he was on the fence about the whole card game thing. He watched as Cordelia flipped the cards out of the corner of his eye, and when she groaned at being bested, she saw Mabel’s eyes widen.

He kicked Will under the table. His brother jolted and shot him a look. “It’s your turn, _Will_.” He stressed. The shy shrug he got back told him it might not be as bad as he had thought, but whatever was going on inside his twin’s head right now was worrying him.

“So, like, what, do I start from scratch or continue with Two?”

“You continue like normal.” Dennis replied.

The semi-blonde looked down at his cards, made a humming noise that barely made it to Clifford over the noise of the music, then laid down a card, which was immediately called by Dipper. Will shrugged, revealed the Eight of hearts and took it back to his hand before taking another sip from his drink.

Dipper placed a card in the middle with no hesitation, and in quick succession, Mabel and Cordelia played their cards. Then Dennis took a moment to look over his cards and played one as well. “Six.”

“B-” Wirt cut himself off and narrowed his eyes at Dennis, who wore a shit-eating smirk.

“Get it now?” Dennis chuckled. “You can’t know. Am I tricking you? Am I honest?”

Wirt pursed his lips, but kept his mouth shut and added another card to the pile. “Seven.” Clifford darted a look at Mabel, who was looking over to Will again. Clifford waited for a moment, then placed his own eight on the pile in the middle.

“Bullshit.” Dennis said, then cursed when he had to pick up the deck for his wrong guess.

“Aww.” Will whined. “That was building up so nicely!” he looked through his cards and played his card. “Nine.”

Dipper played his cards, then Mabel, who was then called out by Will.

“Bullshit~” he sang.

“Oh, go to hell.” She sent him a glare and picked up the cards without even revealing them first.

“You’re one to complain!” Dennis joked. “I have-” he did a quick count. “Twelve cards!”

No one even paid attention as Cordelia played her card, she called out “Queen!” and Dennis and Wirt both played their cards relatively unsuspiciously before he himself was called out by Dennis. Sighing, he took the pile and added it to his own cards.

Will placed another card, and Mabel called him out. He grinned and handed her a Three of Clubs.

Again, Clifford kicked him under the table and shook his head at him once he got his brothers attention.

As the round progressed, he kept an eye on the two, and noticing their playstyle, he had to shake his head more than once.

Will was purposely riling her up. He always tried to save up the cards over a round, only to attempt to dump them all on Mabel when she had to play a wrong card, and he succeeded more than once. On the other hand, he never called it out when Clifford played the wrong cards. Instead, whenever he was called out himself – mostly by Mabel, who was growing more and more vindictive – the pile had usually been dumped on Wirt just before.

Mabel had also started off waiting to see if Will would say something, until she seemed to realize the same thing Clifford had. Then, she did the exact same thing. The end result was that they both ended up sharing second place with two cards, when Dipper played his last card and Dennis, who had challenged his claim, had ended up with another five cards to his hand, which by now needed two hands to hold.

“Welp!” Will stretched in his seat. And picked up his empty cup. It was actually his second one already, the game had gone on long enough that each of them had gone for drinks at least once during the game. “That was fun. Anyone wanna go dance?”

“Yeah, come on.” Dipper seconded. They all picked up their cards and gave them to Mabel to put away and put way any of their things that may have been lying about. Clifford was unsure about leaving their table unattended, but the other’s seemed assured enough that, with their sleeping bags lying on the chairs, no one would take it.

They all headed downstairs and while Dipper and Will went off to get another hot-sauce-drink, he frowned after them and went with the others to get something non-alcoholic. The line here was somehow the longest one, but Cordelia had insisted on the fruit punch. For a moment, he thought of getting a hot chocolate. He threw another look at his twin and tried to gauge if he’d be faster queuing in the line for the hot chocolate than he would be here.

“Shouldn’t we stop them?” Wirt asked him, apparently having seen his worried look.

Clifford sighed and shrugged. “It seems like Dipper knows what he’s doing? I don’t know, but I will be keeping an eye on my brother.”

He wasn’t quite sure he wanted to know what would happen to his brother’s shared-brain situation if alcohol got involved. From what they’d heard from Mr Stonefield, drinking was bad news. Then again, so was sex, which apparently wasn’t actually the case as their friends had said, so maybe he could be wrong twice?

Clifford looked over to where the majority of their two grades had amassed into a giant mob of moving bodies and narrowed his eyes. Very suddenly, it occurred to him that he _really_ didn’t want to dance.

“So, I think this will be my last one.” Dipper walked up to them, and Clifford could clearly see he was walking differently. Not _quite_ swaying, or even staggering, just…. _different_. Will on the other hand….

He was definitely swaying. And he was leaning on Dipper a lot, which the other either didn’t notice or didn’t care about. Clifford hadn’t even noticed that when they’d gone downstairs.

Dipper followed his look and nodded. “His last one too.” He ignored Wills pained whine of “Noooo!” and continued talking. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t get any more.”

Clifford nodded. It did assure him a lot. “Thank you.”

“No prob!” Dipper finger gunned at him, then let himself get dragged off by Will towards the dance floor.

Having one tiny little worry less, he looked down their queue, which was still way too long, and over to the one for the hot chocolate.

“Hot chocolate?” Wirt asked. He looked back at the other.

“It’s a shorter line.” He explained. The other boy shrugged and tapped Dennis on the shoulder.

“We’re gonna go get something else to drink, this line is too long!” he raised his voice to carry over the noise. Dennis gave them an enthusiastic thumbs up, then they split off and went to get some hot chocolate.

The stand was right next to the fire exit of the auditorium, which had been propped open to let the students outside to the metal grid balcony – mostly to smoke, he discerned from the smell. Still, once they both had gotten their drinks, he saw Wirt eye the door and tilted his head in question.

“Do you want to go outside?”

“Nah, there’s just smokers there.”

“We can go further out then.” He then added as an afterthought. “Besides, I really don’t want to dance.”

Wirt laughed. “Yeah, me neither!” he gave a lopsided grin and nodded.

Decision made, Clifford looked back one more time to check on his twin. Spotting Mabel, who was still watching both their brothers vigilantly, he felt a bit better about just leaving. She was sure to keep an eye on the two boys.

Suppressing a cough, he followed Wirt past the little group of smokers right on the terrace and down the fire escape staircase. By now, darkness had fallen and the schoolyard was only illuminated by a few stray lamp posts that were arranged all around the yard. Here and there, some other students had scattered out, either to smoke or get fresh air.

“I didn’t think those still worked.” Clifford remarked at seeing the lights. The lamp posts had looked old enough during the day that he’d thought they were merely decoration. “Are they actually as old as they look or is that just a style the school choose?”

Wirt shrugged. “No idea.” Then after a pause, he added: “I mean, I haven’t lived here that long. The others might know.”

The two boys were about to walk past the person who was the furthest out from the main building – one of the smokers – when she suddenly spoke up.

“Hey Wirt, is that you?”

“Huh?”

They turned and in the dim light – the next lamp post was a little far away – Clifford recognized Anna from their Writing class.

“Oh, um, yeah? Hi?” Wirt scooted a little closer to the taller boy.

Right. Clifford recalled what both Wirt and Dipper had told them about her, and for a moment, he was very tempted to just grab Wirt and leave.

“You’re a moth, right? It looks really cute!” She smiled sweetly at the brunette, completely ignoring Clifford. Taking a drag from her cigarette, she stepped a little closer. “So, what you think of the party? Kinda boring, right?”

“I-I think it’s fine.” He protested.

“Pfft.” She made a dismissive hand gesture. “You wouldn’t be out here if it was so great in there.” She jabbed a thumb in the direction of the auditorium.

Clifford frowned and spoke up as well. “We were just getting fresh air.” And just as he said that, he figured out the perfect excuse to leave. “So, we’ll be going elsewhere.” He said with a pointed stare at the cigarette in her hand.

She laughed like bells and took another drag. “Aww, you’re boring. Why do you hang out with him?” She directed at Wirt. “It’s not that bad. Here, you can try.” She held out an open pack of smokes for Wirt.

“Ah, no thanks. I’m not really- I mean-” he stammered. By now, Clifford really wanted to leave, but he also didn’t know how to do so in a way that was appropriate.

“Oh, really? I had hoped you were a little more adventurous.” She sighed with a disappointed air.

And for a short moment, Clifford could almost feel Wirt’s insulted pride. “That’s enough.” He frowned and stepped a little bit forward. “Stop trying to bully him into smoking. That’s really underhanded.”

“What?!” She laughed. “Calm your tits, I was just asking. And he said no, and I didn’t ask again, how is that pushing anyone to do anything?” She scoffed. “Just because you nerds are scared of a little smoke.”

At his side, Wirt turned to Anna with a glare. “I know what you’re doing. It’s not going to work on me. Please leave us alone.” Then he pulled at Clifford’s arm slightly. “Come on.”

“Come on, what are you talking about?” She laughed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Wirt, still hiding partly behind him, frowned at her. “I happen to be friends with Dipper, and he told me what you do. So cut it out.”

Suddenly, she grimaced. “Wait, are you the gaywad that turned Mason?” She took a step back and darted a glance up at Clifford. “And now you’re slutting yourself out to that guy?”

“What?!” Wirt jumped away from Clifford. “W-what are you talking about?!” he shrieked.

“Yeah, I’m onto you, you fag. Should have been obvious, really. You dressed as a fucking butterfly for Halloween.” She blows a cloud of smoke in his face, making him cough. “You should get away from him, before he turns you gay too.” She remarked in Clifford’s direction. “Unless you’re a homo too, then you can both go and burn for all I care.” She scoffed again, then she turned around and walked off to the school gates.

The boys looked after her for a moment, before Clifford had to remark: “She really is a bitch.”

Wirt snorted. “Yeaaah. I sort of expected that, though.”

“Because of what Dipper told you?”

Wirt nodded and they moved further along the schoolyard. “Honestly, she’s scary as hell. According to Dipper, she always knows what to say to make people do things they usually wouldn’t want to do.” He pulled his arms against his chest in a hug. “If he didn’t warn me, and if you hadn’t been there, I might have given in. Just to get her off my case.” The brunette almost rubbed his hands over his face before recalling his makeup.

“Let’s just avoid her from now on.” Clifford noted.

“You think we can get our teacher to let us sit elsewhere in Writing?” Wirt asked.

“Maybe?”

As they walked across the school yard, Clifford glanced skywards when they were passing through one of the darker spots. There may not have been many stars out, due to the light of the city around them, but the sky was cloudless and what could be seen was still pretty. He paused in his walking to search for any constellations, the most obvious being the big dipper, which he only knew about from that time they had banded together to pester Dipper about his nickname until he showed them his birthmark.

“Do you know any constellations?” he asked Wirt.

“Eh, not really, jut the dipper.” He shrugged.

For a bot, they stay away from the lamp posts as they walk, looking up to the stars every now and then before finding a bench shrouded in darkness to sit down. Here, the music from inside was barely audible. Wirt struggles with the wings of his costume for a moment, then uses the fabric to swaddle himself in it.

“Sort of a reverse moth, huh?” he remarks. “Staying in the dark, I mean. Sorry, stupid joke.” He laughs nervously.

“Nah, you’re right, it’s ironic.” Clifford offers a smile. “For once, I actually don’t mind the darkness.” He observes. Maye it’s the stars, or knowing that someone else is there, but thinking back, this might just be the first time he doesn’t mind the dark or being away from his brother.

“Right, I forgot. Since when? I mean, I-I know you can’t- …remember, but… oh, nevermind.”

Clifford shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Our parents told me I used to be scared of loud noises, like thunderstorms, but they never said anything about darkness. We didn’t realize it much at first, because we shared a hospital room, but I am actually scared of the dark when I’m alone. Or at least, when Will is not around.” He shrugged. “I don’t really know why, I’ve been told that I used to consider myself the ‘older’ brother, and that I was protective of Will, so I guess that still applies now. You know how that is, right?”

“Hah, yeah.” He fell silent for a moment. “I used to be a real jerk to Greg. Thinking back to how I treated him sometimes is really painful. I wasn’t, like extremely mean or anything, but I just ignored him really often.” Wirt fumbled with his hands for a while. “I’m not sure why he still looks up to me when I’ve been so standoffish.”

Clifford listened closely, but he had no real answer to that. For the next few minutes, they sat in silence, staring up at the sky. It wasn’t an awkward silence, and it wasn’t empty either. They just _were_ for a while – he wasn’t sure how long - until a cool breeze washed over them. Checking the time – it was almost midnight already – Clifford stood and tilted his head back at the school building. Wordlessly, the two teenagers walked back inside.

The noise inside was ear-shattering juxtaposed with the calm serenity of the schoolyard. Both boys needed a moment to get used to it again, then they set off to look for their friends. Their table was currently only occupied by Dennis, who was on his phone.

“Hey, where’ve you been?” he greeted.

“Outside, we needed some air.” Clifford replied.

“Not a bad idea.”

“Where are the others?”

“Probably dancing.” Dennis shrugged.

Nodding, Clifford suggested to go downstairs and look for them. Wirt made a face, but nodded and followed him. He wanted to start off just checking from the sidelines of the main mob in the middle, but was stopped by a sight he hoped to never see again, right next to the staircase they’ve just come down from.

“Urgh, Girls!” he blocked his sight with a hand, just barely catching Cordelia and Mabel jumping apart from their kiss.

“Whoops, sorry, Clifford!” Cordelia laughed, giddily. “What’s up?”

“Have you seen Will? Or Dipper?” he asked.

Mabel’s eyes widened. “ _You_ don’t know where they are?”

“We went outside for a bit. I thought they would be fine with you guys.” He made a vague gesture meant to encompass the girls and Dennis.

Mabel’s face fell even further. “I thought _you_ would watch them!”

He frowned. “I’m not Will’s keeper. And Dipper has experience with alcohol, right, they should be fine.” Beside him, Wirt nodded.

“I don’t see the problem either.” Cordelia dismissed.

“Still,” Clifford amended. “I _would_ like to find them, just to check up on them.” Now that it was clear Mabel hadn’t really been watching as vigilantly as he first suspected, he did feel a little antsy.

“We’ll go check the dance floor, you can go look by the drinks.” Cordelia offered before moving towards the dancers. “Don’t worry!” she called over her shoulder.

It would turn out that he _did_ have to worry.

Neither of them found hide nor hair of either boys, and Dennis hadn’t seen them come by their table either. Since Clifford and Wirt had just been outside and hadn’t seen them there, that would mean they were running around in the school building somewhere.

They swiftly checked the rooms that were open for the sleeping bags, hoping they’d just went and passed out somewhere without getting their sleeping bags first, but they couldn’t find a trace. At that point, they decided to split up again. Dennis would be waiting in the auditorium in case they came back, Cordelia and Clifford spammed Will’s phone – Dennis replied shortly after that it had been wedged into his sleeping bag in the auditorium – the Mabel taking over to do the same for Dipper, who wasn’t replying either, and judging from the report on the messages and calls, never received any of them. After this, the girls went to check the lower two floors, and Clifford grabbed Wirt’s hand to sneak up the stairs to check the remaining – and technically off-limits – floors.

“Okay, I know you’re worried, but we could just wait for them to come back right?” Wirt whispered as he was pulled along by Clifford. They snuck up another staircase, all rooms on that floor had been locked and no one was in the hallways.

“I don’t know if our tutor exaggerated with his descriptions of what alcohol does, but there are many things that could be happening to Will right now, floating around in my head and none of them are nice.” Starting with puking, going over to alcohol poisoning and ending with rape and death. And he had no idea how much alcohol was in the six or maybe seven drinks his brother had had – of course he’d kept count, but who knows what happened in the time he was gone – and how great his twins tolerance was, though it probably wasn’t great, and did he even stay with Dipper or did they each run off on their own-

“Don’t worry so much, I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Wirt tried to assure him. It didn’t help much, but he appreciated the gesture.

“Thanks.” He tried another doorknob. Locked as well.

Distracted as he was, he hadn’t even noticed that he had yet to let go of Wirt’s hand. A slight brush of a thumb made him remember. “Oh, sorry.” He let go.

A smile fell from Wirt’s face.

He raised a brow. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” Wirt mumbled, and Clifford spotted a faint red tinge on his cheeks.

“What, do you _want_ to hold hands?” In the few seconds his brain took to catch up with what he just said, he realized several things at once. One, that had sounded really rude. Two, that was a really pained expression on Wirt’s face. This, in turn, made him realize, that _yes_ , apparently Wirt _did_ want to hold hands, and also, he hated that expression and the fact that he put it there. Which led to the third realization, that made him recall all the tiny little things Cordelia had teasingly remarked on in their interactions with each other and also several jabs at his own cluelessness. Wirt had a crush on him.

“No. Forget it.” Wirt hissed and swiftly walked down the hallway, away from Clifford.

“No, wait, I didn’t- That wasn’t what I meant!” he corrected and run after him, only to be stopped by a flashlight to the face.

“Come on, kids.” One of their teachers sighed. “Get back downstairs to party, okay?”

In silence, the teacher escorted them back to the lower floors and watched them until they left. Wirt had walked away as soon and as quickly as possible, and when Clifford tried to follow, he ended up on the other side of a locked bathroom stall.

“Listen, I’m sorry? I didn’t know-”

That actually sounded even worse.

“I’m apparently an idiot about stuff like this. I didn’t know, I’m sorry and- I don’t know what you want me to say!” he called.

“Just leave me alone.” Came the reply.

He frowned, but backed away from the stall. “Please don’t stay mad forever?” he asked, then complied and left.

Outside, he sank down on the stairs and buried his head in his hands.

Hopefully, he hadn’t just lost a good friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: There is a chapter called 'He's wrong, I'm wrong' in 'In Between' that shows you how this last part went on Wirts side


	43. Whoops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Urgh, some parts of this were harder to format than to write Dx  
> On that note, if at any point you are confused by who’s thinking what, don’t worry, I was too. Still, there is an order to the way I format Will and Bill interacting, as I’m sure you all have noticed. As of this chapter, that format might change a little.  
> To prevent any further spoilers, look in the notes at the bottom if you can’t figure out what’s happening WHEN it happens.
> 
> I hope you don't hate me for this one...
> 
> Holly~♥

‘I can’t believe you did that! And right in front of Mabel!’ Will let a giggle slip out as he hurried away with Dipper to get another drink.

**‘Pfft, this is a party, she can’t confront us here without looking crazy.’**

‘And afterwards??’

**‘You can blame the booze.’ Speaking of, he was glad Will had been so willing to drink, because he was a lot more fun like this. Even if the blurriness was a little distracting a times.**

“Okay.” Will nodded.

“What?” Dipper asked from where he was standing in line next to him.

“I said, okay.”

“Yeah, I heard, but to what?” the brunette inquired.

“Huh?” Will asked, acting a little more confused than he actually was.

“Just- nevermind.” Dipper chuckled and shook his head.

The motion seemed strange to him, and he raised his hand to where he could see it and waved it from side to side. He had to giggle again at the result. Will knew where his hand was supposed to be, but somehow, it felt like his eye wasn’t communicating with his brain properly, and the movement he saw was both too slow and too fast.

“Tipsy?” Dipper asked quietly and paid for his cup.

Will shrugged and bought himself one as well. He could keep up. After they both had gotten their drinks, the two boys stood aside to watch the rest of their group get their own, taking sips from their cups now and then.

Will leaned against the wall next to the drinks table. The room was spinning a little, but he was sure it wasn’t bad. **Actually it was kinda funny.**

“You okay?” Dipper asked with a concerned smile.

Will grinned back at him. “Yeah, w- I’m great! This is fun!”

“Good.” He nodded and leaned against the wall beside him.

Will tilted to the side a bit and leaned against Dippers shoulder, surprised when the brunette laid his head against the taller boy’s shoulder.

‘Hee-heeheee!’ Will squealed silently.

**‘Eurgh.’ Bill made, but didn’t move them away.**

**He just didn’t feel like it.**

**Besides, Will would never stop nagging at him if he did.**

After having a few more sips, Bill nagged Will to suggest going to dance, and Dipper asked tell their group beforehand, since they were close to getting their own drinks now. Leaving behind their spot at the wall, the two made their way towards the other drink table.

“So, I think this will be my last one.” Dipper said when they were within hearing distance again. Will leaned his shoulder against his, trying to keep his focus on the conversation instead of the pretty lights dancing over Dippers hair.

 **‘Ew, please stop that.’ Bill pulled his eyes away** and Will pouted.

Dipper looked down at him suddenly. “His last one too.”

“ **N** o **o** o **o**! **”** t **h** e **y** w **h** i **n** e **d** , **t** h **e** n **c** u **t** t **h** e **m** s **e** l **v** e **s** o **f** f **w** i **t** h **a** l **o** s **t** l **o** o **k** o **n** t **h** e **i** r **f** a **c** e **.**

‘Oh.’ **‘Huh.’**

**So that’s a thing, apparently.**

Will saw Dipper finger gun at Clifford, **then Bill decided it was time to drag all of them over towards the dance floor.**

‘What’s happening right now?’

**‘Dancing, mostly.’ He answered when the entered the throng of students on the designated dance floor.**

‘You know what I’m talking about!’ he protested.

**‘And I’m choosing to ignore it until _after_ the party. Right now, we’re here to have fun!’ And also to get away from Shooting Star. She had noticed by now that the necklace was missing, and he was sure she would lay into them if she got them alone. Even now she was still staring after them suspiciously.**

The boys found a spot in the moving bodies that was less occupied, somewhere close to the middle of the mob. Close by, large speakers shook with a rhythmic bass, and Will could feel it thumping in his chest.

That, or the combined efforts of alcohol and his proximity to Dipper this evening was finally doing him in.

He did his best to keep his body moving _somehow_ , since he really had no idea what to do now.

**‘Again, look around, copy moves, I don’t care, it’s not that hard! Urgh, just lemme-’**

**And then he was dancing, throwing out all the pent-up frustrations from the past few months through their shared body.**

‘Oh god, please stop we look ridiculous.’ Will despaired, but then Dipper laughed and joined in. And suddenly-

 **I** t **w** a **s** a **l** r **i** g **h** t **.**

T **h** e **y** w **e** r **e** d **a** n **c** i **n** g **t** o **g** e **t** h **e** r **,** a **n** d **i** t **w** a **s** g **r** e **a** t **.** **Bill was still pouring out his feelings** – Will actually caught glimpses for once, surprised to see **_Regret_** and **_Longing_** among the more expected **_Frustration_** and **_It’s-So-Unfair_** – **b** u **t** i **t** w **a** s **n** o **l** o **n** g **e** r **u** n **c** o **n** t **r** o **l** l **e** d **,** t **h** e **i** r **m** o **v** e **m** e **n** t **a** l **i** t **t** l **e** s **m** o **o** t **h** e **r** , **a** l **i** t **t** l **e** s **o** f **t** e **r** t **h** a **n** b **e** f **o** r **e**. **A** l **s** o **a** l **i** t **t** l **e** c **l** o **s** e **r** t **o** D **i** p **p** e **r** , **w** h **o** k **e** p **t** a **l** i **g** h **t** h **a** n **d** o **n** t **h** e **i** r **a** r **m**. Will beam **e** d **a** n **d** t **h** e **y** s **n** a **t** c **h** e **d** i **t** u **p** i **n** t **h** e **i** r **o** w **n** h **a** n **d** , **t** u **r** n **i** n **g** t **h** e **i** r **t** w **o** s **o** l **o** d **a** n **c** e **s** i **n** t **o** o **n** e **j** o **i** n **e** d **o** n **e**.

“Hey!” Dipper laughed over the near-deafening music. “You can dance?!”

“ **N** o **!** ” **t** h **e** y **l** a **u** g **h** e **d** b **a** c **k** , **t** h **e** n **t** w **i** r **l** e **d** t **h** e **o** t **h** e **r** b **o** y **o** n **c** e **b** e **f** o **r** e **f** a **l** l **i** n **g** b **a** c **k** i **n** t **o** t **h** e **r** h **y** t **h** m **.**

 **‘Mabel is still watching.’** T **h** e **y** n **o** t **e** d **i** n **t** h **e** b **a** c **k** o **f** t **h** e **i** r **m** i **n** d **,** b **u** t **d** i **d** n **’** t **l** e **t** t **h** a **t** d **i** s **t** r **a** c **t** t **h** e **m** a **n** y **f** u **r** t **h** e **r** t **h** a **n** t **h** a **t**.

 **“** W **e** h **a** v **e** n **o** i **d** e **a** w **h** a **t** w **e** ’ **r** e **d** o **i** n **g**! **”** t **h** e **y** y **e** l **l** , and Dipper laughs and nods.

“You got that right!”

The two boys move apart, then back together, still only connected to each other by their joined hands. A couple of times, they have to evade stepping on each other’s toes, but apart from a slip-up or two - which really have no importance at all and are laughed off immediately - it's a relaxed dance full of enjoyment and laughter. They barely even care about the crowd around them, even though they still have to watch out not to shove anyone too badly.

 **For a moment, Bill began to think they might be having a heart attack** , **b** u **t** i **t** w **a** s **j** u **s** t **a** c **h** a **n** g **e** i **n** t **h** e **m** u **s** i **c** , **a** n **d** n **o** w **t** h **e** b **a** s **s** w **a** s **c** o **m** i **n** g **i** n **f** a **s** t **e** r **t** h **a** n **b** e **f** o **r** e **,** s **e** n **d** i **n** g **t** h **e** i **r** h **e** a **r** t **t** h **r** u **m** m **i** n **g** a **n** d **m** a **k** i **n** g **t** h **e** i **r** m **o** v **e** m **e** n **t** s **q** u **i** c **k** e **n**.

 **“** I **t** h **i** n **k** w **e** ’ **r** e **d** r **u** n **k**. **”** they observed.

Dipper frowned. “Then you probably shouldn’t have gotten another one. Also… ‘we’? I mean, yeah I'm a little tispy, but-”

 **“** W **h** o **o** p **s**! **”** t **h** e **y** g **i** g **g** l **e** d **.**

“ **I** t **’** s **r** e **a** l **l** y **w** e **i** r **d** r **i** g **h** t **n** o **w** , **I** d **o** n **’** t **k** n **o** w **w** h **e** r **e** I **s** t **a** r **t** o **r** w **h** e **r** e **w** e **b** e **g** i **n**! **”** t **h** e **i** r **l** a **u** g **h** t **e** r **t** u **r** n **e** d **t** o **a** g **r** i **m** a **c** e. **“** I **’** m **s** o **r** r **y** y **y** y **.** ” **t** h **e** y **w** h **i** n **e** d **i** m **m** e **d** i **a** t **e** l **y** a **f** t **e** r **.** “ **I** ’ **m** b **e** i **n** g **s** t **r** a **n** g **e**. **”**

“Dude, I don’t know if alcohol agrees with your-…” Dipper aborted a gesture at his head that could have become a ‘cuckoo’-gesture. “personality situation.”

 **T** h **e** y **l** e **a** n **e** d **i** n **c** l **o** s **e** , **t** h **e** i **r** c **a** p **e** s **w** i **r** l **i** n **g** a **r** o **u** n **d** t **h** e **i** r **a** n **k** l **e** s **s** m **o** o **t** h **l** y **,** t **r** a **i** l **i** n **g** a **f** t **e** r **t** h **e** m **l** i **k** e **a** s **h** a **d** o **w.** **“** I **d** o **n** ’ **t** t **h** i **n** k **i** t **d** o **e** s **!**! **”**

T **h** e **n** , **i** n **a** s **h** o **r** t **b** u **r** s **t** o **f** **_Fun_** _-Teasing- **J** o **k** e_ **,** t **h** e **y** r **e** a **c** h **e** d **u** p **t** o **s** t **e** a **l** D **i** p **p** e **r** s **t** o **p** h **a** t **f** o **r** t **h** e **m** s **e** l **v** e **s**.

“Hey!”

 **"** L **o** o **k** s **b** e **t** t **e** r **o** n **me** **a** n **y** w **a** y **s**! **"** t **h** e **y** s **t** i **c** k **o** u **t** t **h** e **i** r **t** o **n** g **u** e **.** Dipper laughs and attempts to steal it back, **b** u **t** t **h** e **y** e **v** a **d** e **w** i **t** h **a** l **i** t **t** l **e** s **t** u **m** b **l** e **,** s **t** i **l** l **h** o **l** d **i** n **g** o **n** t **o** t **h** e **b** r **u** n **e** t **t** e **’** s **h** a **n** d **.**

S **t** i **l** l **l** a **u** g **h** i **n** g **m** e **r** r **i** l **y** , **t** h **e** y **k** e **e** p **d** a **n** c **i** n **g** i **n** c **i** r **c** l **e** s **a** r **o** u **n** d **t** h **e** s **h** o **r** t **e** r **b** r **u** n **e** t **t** e **,** a **m** u **s** e **d** b **y** h **i** s **a** t **t** e **m** p **t** s **t** o **t** a **k** e **b** a **c** k **h** i **s** h **a** t **.** D **i** p **p** e **r** ' **s** h **a** i **r** i **s** d **i** s **h** e **v** e **l** l **e** d **w** h **e** r **e** i **t** w **a** s **t** r **a** p **p** e **d** u **n** d **e** r **t** h **e** h **a** t **a** n **d** h **i** s **b** r **e** a **t** h **i** n **g** i **s** c **o** m **i** n **g** a **l** i **t** t **l** e **s** h **o** r **t** e **r** a **n** d **c** h **o** p **p** i **e** r **n** o **w**. **H** e **l** o **o** k **e** d **h** o **t**.

**'Oh no.' He's been got.**

For a moment, Will panics a little. 'It's been working so well, you can't pull back now!'

In his distracted state, Dipper reclaims his hat. "Hah!"

Will pouted, both from losing his- _their_ game with Dipper, and also from plain losing _themselves_. Whatever _they_ were back there, it was great.

**‘Stop whining.’ And yeah, that had been awesome, he could admit that – to himself that is – but it was also terrifying.**

**Bill had lost himself in _them_.**

**Will had as well, but Bill could see that it didn’t bother him in the least. The kid was just happy that they could do that at all, and didn’t care much for how they did it. But Will couldn’t feel the wall Bill had built up so diligently between their respective selves.**

**The wall that had disappeared completely in those few moments.**

**And he hadn’t even realized until he snapped back out of it.**

**He was pulled from his musing when the boys began to move off the dance floor.**

**‘Where are you going?’**

‘No idea.’

**“Where are we going?” he repeated out loud.**

“I dunno yet.” Dipper smiled and pulled him along.

**Bill was surprised when he was Mabel was not watching them anymore. The only person she seemed interested in right now had red hair and was pinning her to a wall. He made a slight face.**

**He couldn’t find Clifford anywhere either, so…**

**‘If we wanna sneak out, now would be the time.’**

Will grinned and began to pull ahead. “Let’s check out the other floors!” he suggested and pulled Dipper out of the auditorium.

“Shhh, stop, wait!” Dipper chuckled and dug his heels into the ground to slow them down. “Teachers.” He raised his cup in a toast – only about a quarter of which was still left after being shook around during their dance – and then emptied it in one or two gulps. Will quickly followed his example, then they tossed the empty cups in a nearby bin.

Dipper raised his gaze to Wills face and laughed. “You’ve got-” then he dissolved into giggles.

Will reached up to his mouth and found some of the drink dripping down his chin. For a second, he was embarrassed, thinking Dipper was actually laughing at him, but then he realized what the red juice on his face would look like in combination with his outfit, and joined in.

Still laughing, Dipper pulled him along to the next floor, hushing him when they came near some open classrooms.

“They set up a few rooms here to sleep. Actually,” he looked around carefully. “we are not even supposed to come up here if we aren’t going to sleep. I just really wanted to get away from the masses…”

“What about the other floors?” Will eyed the decorative Halloween tape acting as a barrier between this floor and the next.

“Off-limits…” Will could hear how torn the other teen was, so he took the choice from him and pulled him to squeeze through the gaps in the barrier.

“So what, we’ll just run from any teachers.” He whispered, then they rushed upstairs just as a flashlight cut across the floor and a teacher entered the main hall, muttering something unintelligible before resuming his patrol.

“That was close.” Dipper said.

“And fun!” Will whispered, then they began to wind their way through the school building, enjoying themselves by messing with the teachers.

After a while, they did find themselves being chased by one of them though, having been spotted on the fourth floor. When they had tried to move up a floor via the side-staircase, a teacher had been coming down as well, and must have heard them running off, because they spent the next twenty minutes or so attempting to shake them off their tails. Unluckily for them, it appeared to be one of the younger teachers, maybe even a P.E. teacher given how long it took to finally hear him wheezing behind them.

“This way!” Will pulled Dipper up the last set of stairs to the sixth floor.

“Shh!” Dipper smothered a chuckle and rushed after him.

The sixth floor of their school was rarely used, and only if no other rooms were available, as it had been this year with their shared Psychology class. There was also a small kitchen up here, which was mostly used by either Home Economics classes or the few times a teacher decided to have an impromptu breakfast/cooking lesson before break, as Cordy said her French teacher did once.

This floor was actually were most of the very specific rooms were, only a handful of normal classrooms scattered between. There was the small training room – really small – with workout equipment for the students who didn’t mind dragging themselves up six floors only to use a free gym, the room for the school’s first aid helpers to practice patching up random injuries at school and the computer room. Those were at least the ones Will knew of.

The teacher had caught them trudging up the stairs, but after looping around the fourth, third, fifth and fourth floor – in that order – they were finally starting to slow down.

Adrenaline rushing through them, the boys rushed down one of the hallways, trying to find an unlocked door to hide in one of the classrooms. After jiggling three handles, the fourth handle Will turned gave, and he stumbled into the first aid practice room, Dipper close behind him, shoving him in and swiftly, but silently, closing the door behind them and sitting against it to keep it closed.

Trying to keep their panting as quiet as possible, they waited in tense silence for the heavy steps of the teacher to rush past once, twice, then leave back the way he came. After a couple more minutes, Dipper let out a relieved sigh, before succumbing to giggles, Will joining in shortly after.

Once he’d calmed down enough to concentrate on moving, he offered a hand to help up the other boy. It took him a few tries to actually catch the others hand, but managed to after the fourth time or so.

**“I think ’m drunk.” Bill let slip with utter astonishment. It was a very funny feeling, and for once, he was actually jealous of the human body.**

**‘I’ve never been drunk before.’**

**“** ’ **s** f **u** n **n** y **!** ” **t** h **e** y **s** t **a** t **e** d **,** **before Bill shook his head to regain his focus.** “Aww.”

**Then again, maybe they should avoid booze from now on.**

Dipper chuckled. “It is!” suddenly is face twisted in concentration. “….You did drink a cup of water in between, right?”

“Nope!” Will shrugged with a grin on his face.

“Oh.” Dipper frowned. “That’s actually not good. But you ate _something_ at least.”

“ **I ate sweets.** Does tha’ still help?” he asked, a little giddy upon realizing he still had a hold on the other boy’s hand.

Giving it a slight tug, he pulled him over to sit down on the little padded bench that stood in the corner.

“It might? I don’t know, you seem fine so far. How do you feel?” He asked, his hand slipping off the bench once before he set it down properly to lift himself up.

Will tried to assess his current state. When he tilted his head, the room seemed to both do a barell roll and lag behind his movement, a dizzying contrast, but still something funny to look at.

“Well, the room is spinnin’, **which is great. I like tha’.” He let out a slight giggle. “Also, my tongue feels weird, but tha’ might juss be me.** Nah, same here, I can’t talk righ’ anymore.” Will pouted.

“Confusing, but I think I got that. Are you still having trouble with your other personality?” Dipper asked cautiously.

“ **We haven’t ha’ problems with each other since-** well, there was tha _thing_ on Dennis’ party, which ’m still mad about, **but apar’ from tha’, we’re fine** , **Pine-…** Pines!” Will slung an arm around the brunette’s shoulder. “Do ya wanna know wha’ I love about you?”

“Yeaaaah, I think you’re drunk.” Dipper giggled in a fashion that he would probably never have if he’d been completely sober.

“ **Yer so funny, ki** -dude. Such fun. **An’ here I was thinkin’ you hate parties or somethin’…** ”

“Naaaah! I don’t, actually? Like, most of the time?” He waved it off. “I’m not really fun to be around on parties unless I’m tipsy.” He shrugged.

Will blindly reached to poke the others cheeks and probably poked him in the eye instead, but whatever.

“Pines, you’re adorable.”

**‘Stoop thaaaaat!’ he whined.**

Then he smacked a kiss on the others nose before he could be stopped.

“Woo!” he yelled. “Take that! **…Go burn.”**

“Huh?”

“He doesn’t l-like you, but I dooo!” Will whined. “ **And I hate you so, _so_ much!” he smacked the ball of his hand into Wills forehead a couple of times, swaying when the effect made the room spin twice as fast for them both.**

„What?“ Dipper looked utterly baffled.

„You know!“ he poked the right side of his head. „This guy! He doesn’t wanna admit it, but he- he likes you- **only because you forced me to!** Did noooot!“

“You kissed my nose.” Dipper stated absentmindedly and peered down at his nose, which gave him a really cute cross-eyed look. He looked very confused. „So, what? You’re saying one of your personalities has a crush on me?“

„We both do, he jus’ doesn’t wanna admit it!“ Will pouted. „But I wanna-“ ask you out-

 **‘OH NO YOU DON’T!’ he slapped his hand over their mouth.** Will reached up to push it back down.

“See?! He’s bein’ a total meanie!” Will rubbed his hands over his face. This would be a lot easier if they could cooperate-

**‘Not doing that again.’**

“Are you alright?” Dipper reached up to pull his hands from his face.

‘Are you that against me getting Dipper to be my boyfriend?!’

**‘…yes.’**

‘You hesitated.’

Several things happened at once in the next few moments.

 **Bill had a minor fit in the recesses of his mindscape, throwing things around and trying to blast apart everything he could still identify as** Will’s-

Which gave Will a few short moments with no interruptions from the other.

He laughed weakly and pulled his hands from Dipper’s. “’m sorry. I’m so weird.”

“That’s okay.” he mumbled.

And all of a sudden he was really close to Dippers face. He had no idea who of them moved, but he could feel a tension in the air, could feel heat run across his face and neck, and then he felt lips against his.

‘Hell yes!’ **‘Fuck.’**

 **He pulled away** , then went back in, pushing the other boy down into the bench. Their lips moved together and Will felt the other bury his hand in his hair before pulling on it slightly to get some space between them.

“You can’t like me.” Dipper said solemnly.

“We do though _. **I said**_ **I don’t** ” Will, who had included Bill in that on purpose, grinned, **before the other turned that into an icy glare.**

“Why can’t you talk normal?” Dipper whined.

**“Because I’m not.”**

‘True.’

“And I _do_ like you, you’re cute.” Will insisted, pushing back against the demon when he tried to mitigate that.

“Uuurrrrghh, you can’t say that!” Dipper groaned.

“Why not?”

“Because.” He glared, the sudden harsh expression startling Will slightly. “Noone likes me _back_ for real. Ever.”

“I’m sure you’re wrong.” Will laid his chin on the others chest, heart soaring at the implication that Dipper liked him. He wanted to add something to that, but while he was fishing for words, Dipper started talking again.

“My first crush was never interested, which is okay because she was way older than me, but then Jenny – that absolute _bitch_ – was pretending to like me so she could play this-this awful fucking prank on me and Mabel, and then there was Dean, who I never even tried talking to, because he’s- just- that guy got expelled he was that awful! I don’t ven know why I likes him in the first place! And- and then there were all these--… I don’t even know, but they were all  so much like you, and then Anna-….” He growled and pushed at Wills chest, to dislodge him from where he was lying on top of him. The sudden movement made Will lose what little balance he had and fall off the cot.

“Woah!” he hit the floor hard and tried to right himself through the dizziness, failing to even sit up properly. **The room was spinning too much to be funny now,** he could barely make out what the brunette above him was saying.

“An-… none of the-… … -liked me bac…- …r real. Just _pretended_ -… …-could have a _laugh_.” He looked more and more pissed off during this rant and glared down at the other teen, and Will could see the utter rage on the others face. He wondered what he did wrong here, but then his vision swam and the brunette just became a blur. “...-o jus-… …-op it-…nd le-…e me.. -lone! I k-…w wh-… you’re doin-!”

**“Urgh.” This wasn’t good. “Too much alcohol.” He stumbled to the bin in the corner and vomited. It had been a very unpleasant experience on their first day of school, and he’d been in a weakened state then, unable to feel much from the outside. This? Was awful.**

‘Agreed.’ Will thought lazily, it was definitely a feeling he was starting to hate above all else.

“O-… -it, are yo-… -kay?” Dipper’s mood immediately flipped to concerned, and he rushed over to him, laying a hand on his back.

For a few moments, there was just the sounds of his harsh and ragged breathing, interrupted by a few more gags and coughs. The hand on his back remained though.

“’m sorry.” He mumbled out, vision blackening at the edges, his grip on the metal bin tightened, and the could feel himself swaying even in his crouched position.

“..-ey,…-oah, don-… -o pa-……. ou- … -…! …-ill!”

The last thing he heard was a loud clattering noise.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty:  
> Wills speech is normal, but Bill talks in bold letters, (as expected from a charmer like him ;D).  
> Additionally, if Bill observes anything, he does so first through Will’s sensory organs, his own Sight coming secondary, due to it being so damaged. That’s why observations of what OTHERS DO are still normal if Bill was talking before.  
> Now in this chapter, they finally manage to work as one, and that is PAINFUL to format, so I’m going to change that sometime soon to bold italics.  
> Then again, Feelings are in italics (normal italics for Will or bold italics for Bill), but they are also capitalized and, well, they are stuff like Angst, Regret, Joy and so on. So that probably won’t be a problem.  
> There!  
> I can’t think of more for now, if I missed something you’re still curious about, you can leave me a comment :D


	44. Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Haha, I'm so behind with everything Q-Q  
> BUT! I managed!
> 
> So...  
> Clifford struggles with some things here, but I want to stress that this is STILL Wirt/Clifford (Beast), and Clifford is just too emotionally constipated right now to get what’s happening in his own head.  
> Really, he’s been having too easy of a time in comparison to Will. 
> 
> It’s time to change that, don’t you think?
> 
> ENJOY!
> 
> Holly~♥
> 
> PS: There might be more typos, my firefox deactivated my grammar-check-add-on :(

 

He is woken up by a persistent beam of light, and the first thing he notes is his incredibly stiff body.

The second thing is that he’s sleeping on a carpeted floor, which would indicate he’s in one of the classrooms that were sleeping rooms, but he was pretty sure he fell asleep at-

At the bathroom door.

Clifford groans and rolls over so he can open his eyes without the sun trying to stab them out of his skull. Squinting, he takes a look at the classroom and sees that the floor is covered with students. There are some with and without sleeping bags, lying on the carpet and a few seem to have brought some mats or small mattresses with them to sleep on and some especially confident students were even sleeping on tables.

Why didn’t he just grab his sleeping bag when he moved here?

He tried to recall what happened after-… that rather disastrous talk between him and Wirt.

Sure, he had not moved from the bathroom door, hoping to catch Wirt when he came back out so he could apologize, but then he must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he recalls is getting woken up by a teacher and escorted to this room, whichever one it might be. He hadn’t really been awake enough to actually see where he was going.

The third thing he notices that morning is actually rather startling.

He didn’t dream.

Not a thing.

For the first time in months, he wakes up without any might-be-memories-or-not floating around his tired brain.

Clifford isn’t sure how he feels about that. He pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time.

8 AM.

And 84 messages.

Blinking owlishly, he opens up WhatsApp, the sheer amount of messages distracting him from his realization.

He had 53 messages in the Elite group chat and 26 from Mabel. Also, 4 from Dipper and another one from Dennis.

He decides to start with the ones that have the least ones to read.

**Dennis, 1:01 AM: Dude. Check your phone.**

Well, he was doing that now.

 

**Dipper, 1:29 AM: [This message was deleted]**

**Dipper, 1:30 AM: [This message was deleted]**

**Dipper, 3:51 AM: Okay, great, just ignore that, I’m glad you didn’t see those yet. You already asleep or something, or just not on the phone?**

**Dipper, 4:02 AM: I mean I guess I wont get an answer? Do you know what’s up w/ wirt?**

For a moment, he debates asking about those deleted messages, but he probably shouldn’t pry? And what is going on if Dipper is asking him about Wirt?

He opens up Mabel’s chat with a strange sinking feeling in his stomach.

**Mabel, 0:59 AM: You too? xD**

**Mabel, 1:01 AM: come on, whats got the four of you so wrapped up?**

**Mabel, 1:08 AM: PLEASE**

**Mabel, 1:21 AM: if Dennis is right I don’t care what anyone thinks ill kick bills ass**

**Mabel, 1:21 AM: *will, autocorret**

**Mabel, 1:21 AM: and not even you can stop me**

**Mabel, 1:29 AM: and what was THAT?? Can you reach them?? Did you find them?**

**Mabel, 1:34 AM: have you all been ‘napped or something??**

**Mabel, 1:42 AM: please answer**

**Mabel, 2:15 AM: are you mad that I said I’d beat up will? I won’t do it I swear, I’m just mad and scared**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: check your phones already!**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: spam**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: spam**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: spaM**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: A**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: A**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: A**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: R**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: G**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: G**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: H**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: H**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: H**

**Mabel, 2:29 AM: !**

**Mabel, 2:30 AM: !**

**Mabel, 2:51 AM: Clifford?**

**Mabel, 3:37 AM: come on…**

**Mabel, 3:55 AM: Okay, well, seems everything worked out on Dipper’s side, haha ^_^’**

**Mabel, 4:02 AM: But really where are you two?**

Clifford frowned, despite the relief that Will was probably okay. Just like the other two boys, he had just ‘vanished’ and hadn’t bothered to answer his phone after fighting with Wirt, which just made everyone worry more.

He took a breath and dared to open up the group chat, which probably held the answers to the more confusing of last night’s texts. Their last few texts showed up and he read them over once more.

 

** The Elite **

**Mabel, 0:41 AM: dipdop, where did u and will go?**

**Cordelia, 0:41 AM: will! Answer your phone!**

**Mabel, 0:42 AM: Dipper too**

**Cordelia, 0:42 AM: im spamming the group too, in case he put a single chat on silent or sth**

**Mabel, 0:42 AM: boys!**

**Cordelia, 0:42 AM: answer your phones!**

**Mabel, 0:42 AM: Dipper!**

**Mabel, 0:42 AM: And Will!**

**Will, 0:42 AM: guys, this is dennis, will lefdt his phone in his sleepin bag. Doesn’t even have a passwd.**

**Mabel, 0:42 AM: Fuck!**

**Dennis, 0:43 AM: Yeah I guess, someone should tell him to use a password**

**Cordelia, 0:43 AM: hahahaha Dennis your hilarious -_-**

**Dennis, 0:44 AM: thx I’ll be at our table**

**\--------------------- 53 unread messages ---------------------**

**Wirt has left the group**

Oh.

Well that’s.

That’s a great start.

**Dennis, 0:54 AM: Uh, the fuck?**

**Mabel, 0:54 AM: ….?** **L**

**Cordelia, 0:54 AM: why?**

**Mabel, 0:54 AM: I’m sure it was on accident?**

**Cordelia, 0:54 AM: I sure hope it was! xD whats up over there Clifford?**

**Mabel, 1:08 AM: guys im freakin out answer your fucking phones NOW!**

**Dennis, 1:20 AM: I feel a little lonely now….**

**Dennis, 1:20 AM: Hmmm.**

**Dennis, 1:20 AM: [This message was deleted]**

**Mabel, 1:21 AM: EW DENNIS delete that right now**

**Mabel, 1:21 AM: GOOD**

**Dipper, 1:28 AM: haha sry guys, were busy runnin ffrom teachers don’t worry**

Seeing that message made him breathe a little easier.

**Mabel, 1:28 AM: fuckin hell I thought you died, bro!**

**Dipper, 1:28 AM: only on the inside**

**Mabel, 1:28 AM: so funny, dipstick, where R you guys??**

**Dipper, 1:30 AM: I need to make a call, might be MIA again**

**Mabel, 1:31 AM: SERIOUOSLY????**

**Dennis, 1:31 AM: Called it.**

**Mabel, 1:31 AM: NOONE ASKED YOU!**

**Cordelia, 1:32 AM: and I don’t wanna start anything, but we didn’t get to ask him if Will was with him still, so essentially, the Taylors and Wirt are still missing.**

And he hates Cordelia for voicing his inner fears.

**Cordelia, 1:32 AM: also, funny thing, some chicks are also running around looking for that hoe anna, I swear everyone just goes missing tonight.**

**Cordelia, 1:32 AM: we’re next, Babybel xD**

**Mabel, 1:33 AM: I don’t like this at all.** **L**

**Dennis, 1:34 AM: That’s not funny Deli**

**Dennis, 1:41 AM: Come back to the table, we’ll just wait here. They’re probably already asleep.**

**Cordelia, 1:47 AM: on our way**

**Dipper, 3:52 AM: sorry again ^_^’**

**Cordelia, 3:52 AM: is will with you?**

**Mabel, 3:52 AM: I WILL MURDER YOU IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN!**

**Dipper, 3:52 AM: I just called Grunkle Stan, sorry, we talked a lot…**

**Dipper, 3:52 AM: and also yes, will is sleeping now**

Clifford sighed in relief.

**Dennis, 3:52 AM: Now? ;D**

**Mabel, 3:52 AM: I will remove you from the group, dennis**

**Dennis, 3:52 AM: :C**

 A slight frown made its way on his face. He felt like he was missing something there, probably had something to do with the deleted message earlier.

**Dipper, 3:52 AM: Yeah, don’t worry, we’re both okay and will continue to be so**

**Mabel, 3:52 AM: where are you?**

**Dipper, 3:57 AM: whoa wait what happened, why did wirt leave the group? And where are he and Clifford?**

**Dennis, 3:57 AM: I’m pretty sure Mr. Mom and Mr. Dad are already sleeping somewhere. Didn’t Will say Clifford stands up at sunrise or sth?**

Well, he did wake from the sun being on his face today, so that sounds about right.

The other thing… he was pretty certain Wirt wouldn’t have spent the night on the toilet, so he effectively lost him when he fell asleep. He had no idea where he himself was, much less the other boy’s whereabouts.

**Mabel, 3:52 AM: don’t try to distract me, where are you?**

**Dipper, 3:57 AM: I know you’re worried, Mabel, but belive me, we’Re fine**

**Mabel, 3:52 AM: ur drunk and I don’t even know if this is really dipper writing**

**Dipper, 3:57 AM: just a little tipsy, and why are YOU being so ME rn? xD**

**Mabel, 3:52 AM: bc you’re not! Someone has to be! And you just went missing for hours! TWICE! What if you’ve been kidnapped and this is not even you typing??**

**Mabel, 3:59 AM: okay, nvm, I was being a little frantic**

**Dipper, 3:59 AM: we settled it, Im 100% me, guys**

Per private chat most likely? He grumbled.

It sucked to miss that much of a conversation. Who knew so much could happen in the seven-ish hours he’s been away from his phone? And at night, no less?

 

**Dennis, 4:00 AM: we know that, we’re all at the same table xD**

**Cordelia, 4:00 AM: well, all of us meaning mabel, dennis and me, but you and will are off somewhere and Clifford and wirt aren’t replying, not that wirt would see, cause he left the group** **L**

**Mabel, 4:00 AM: btw, I still wanna kno where you are, dipdop!**

**Dipper, 4:01 AM: sry again, I had a situation back there and couldn’t answer. I’m sure Wirt and Clifford have a good reason too. Probably already sleeping.**

**Mabel, 4:08 AM: Dipper! >:O**

**Dipper, 4:01 AM: you don’t wanna come in here, trust me. It’s disgusting.**

**Cordelia, 4:01 AM: the boy’s bathroom? xD**

**Dennis, 4:01 AM: xD**

 

After that were no more messages.

Apparently, a lot had happened. And according to Dipper, the room he and Will were in was disgusting?

Clifford rubbed a hand over his face and began to type out a reply to send into The Elite.

 

**Clifford, 8:16 AM: I apologize, guys. The reason why I didn’t answer is probably the same reason Wirt left the group last night. We had a misunderstanding over something and I think I hurt him. Not on purpose, but he wouldn’t let me apologize. And I was so preoccupied with that, I didn’t check my phone. Then I fell asleep and also lost Wirt at the same time, so I have no idea where he is right now.**

Once that was done, he decided to make his way through the sleeping students, stepping lightly in the few free spots on the floor and slowly edging towards the door. It was rather strange, how silent the hallway was, the only noise seeming to come from the auditorium, echoing its way down the halls in a way that turned it into creepy gibberish when it reached his ears. He shuddered and swiftly made his way towards the noise. The sooner he found some company, the better.

His phone notified him of a new message.

 

**Dipper, 8:18 AM: Good morning, I hope ur not mad at me?**

**Clifford, 8:18 AM: Not really, why would I be? You said you and Will are alright, correct?**

**Dipper, 8:18 AM: yeah, yeah, of course**

**Dennis, 8:18 AM: how can you two already be awake?**

**Dipper, 8:18 AM: You are too? xD**

**Dennis, 8:18 AM: I was woken up by this girl stomping over me to get out of the room >:(**

**Clifford, 8:19 AM: I’m an early riser, you know that.**

**Dipper, 8:19 AM: so what? Did you guys have afight?**

**Clifford, 8:19 AM: I think? I just don’t know what I can do now.**

Just after hitting send, a lightbulb went off in his head and he opened up Wirt’s chat.

Then he actually physically paused in the hallway. He had no idea what to write. An apology, sure, but then?

He’d had a lot of time to think last night while waiting in front of the bathroom. However, that didn’t mean he’s actually thought of the right things, he realized now. Instead of obsessing over what a mess his attempt at calming Wirt down had been – which was how he spent a ridiculous amount of time before falling asleep – he maybe should have thought about his own stance on what happened.

_“What, do you _want_ to hold hands?”_

Yes. That. That had been really rude. And the realization of just how much of a jerk he’d been had come just a few moments too late. He hadn’t meant to hurt Wirt’s feelings.

Which led him to the next big question. Did he like the other back?

As of now, probably not in the same way? He did enjoy the other’s company though, they could just sit silently together without a worry and perhaps, he could try? It was just all so confusing, the teen didn’t know what he even felt anymore.

What does romantic love even feel like? It certainly can’t be the flowery descriptions like those he’d found in some of the books and stories he’s read, those that talk of ‘champagne bubbles’ and ‘giddiness’. Those just sounded wrong to him, even if he’d never experienced anything like it.

And for once, he begins to analyse himself.

Clifford obviously knows platonic and brotherly love, it’s what he feels for his brother. And family.

….His initial thought had only pertained his twin. He added his family just a fraction of a second later, but he did love his family. He should, shouldn’t he?

Yet, he couldn’t summon within himself the same emotion of love and protection for them as those he felt when thinking of Will. Was that weird? That was probably weird. His therapist might have some words for him about that.

Or not. He’d almost forgotten about it, but at the beginning, when he hadn’t known yet that his therapist was awful, and had still listened to him, Dr Bronson had told him a lot that was probably nonsense. And he recalls him saying at some point: _‘your brother is just more expressive than you. That doesn’t mean you don’t have any, it just means you’re smart enough to keep them to yourself.’_

Back then, the underhanded insult to his brother had triggered an insulted rant on his behalf, which had the therapist tell his parents their all-time favourite line _‘they can’t take responsibility for their mood-swings’_.

As though he had done it on accident.

But the insult had taken up so much of his focus that he’s discarded the rest of the sentence, and he was surprised that he still remembered it so clearly now, when he had forgotten about it until now. Then again, most of his memories weren’t really normal, he doubted anyone remembered their childhood – or even just some parts of it – with the same sensory detail he did. And this is where he found his answer.

He didn’t love his family anymore.

In his memories, he used to, and he recalls the warm feeling in his chest, almost, but not quite like the feeling he still has around Will.

He sits down with his back to a nearby heater.

Searching his mind, there are memories where he _feels_ , and he feels Joy and Guilt and Fear and many more, but only a few he can actually feel now.

His fingers are itching for a piece of paper, so he improvises and goes to type it into his phone. For a moment, he pauses over his chat with Wirt, then opens up Will’s contact instead.

 

**Clifford, 8:23 AM: I just realized I don’t have emotions and I need to leave this here so I remember what I’m thinking now later, sorry, Will.**

**Clifford, 8:23 AM: Emotions that I still have just as they appear in memories:**

**Fear – I still fear some things, I am scared of loneliness and darkness, but the fear of thunderstorms or loud noises is gone**

**Grief – The memory I had of this is of a pet caterpillar dying, but when I think of grief now it’s almost enough to make me cry**

**Love – only platonic love I think, and only for Will, family is not included (please don’t ever tell them that)**

**…**

**Clifford, 8:25 AM: I can’t think of anymore? Is being content an emotion? Or just a mild form of Joy? Will, when you wake up, I need some advice, because I don’t know if I’m just getting stuck in my own head or if I really don’t have emotions.**

**Clifford, 8:27 AM: And why am I just noticing that now?? How does this even-**

Clifford pauses in his typing when he feels a refreshing wave of panic well up, and he breathes a sigh of relief that this is something he can also feel – and sure, it was another negative one, but beggars can’t be choosers. But then, hasty footsteps round the corner and a nervous looking girls comes into his sight. She spots him as well and approaches him, so he stands up.

“Hey, I’m sorry, but have you seen a girl with black dreadlocks? She’s dressed as a goth loli.”

“You mean Anna?” his mind supplies him with what he could recognise of her last night. He has no idea what a loli is, but her outfit did look goth.

“You know where she is!?”

The moment the nervosity on the girls face is replaced with an almost tangible hope, he can feel his heart plummet into his stomach.

Forget almost tangible. He shakes his head, and the panic returns with a note of despair.

“I saw her yesterday on the school yard.” He supplied absentmindedly, then just awkwardly pats the upset girl on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, I have to go.”

He quickly leaves her there, and starts to put as much distance between them as possible.

And with each step, the usual tranquillity and calm of the morning, when everyone is still asleep, returns and confirms his outrageous suspicions.

“Fuck.” He curses and sinks down another wall.

Nevermind not being able to reciprocate someone’s feelings.

It would be peachy if he could just not absorb them like some freaky emotion sponge.

**Dennis, 8:36 AM:** **Dude you relize I still have Wills phone?**

 **Dennis, 8:36 AM:** **I mean I tried not reading your texts, but they just pop up right in the open**

 **Dennis, 8:36 AM:** **you need someone to talk to?**

Fuck.

**\-----------------------**

‘Ouch.’ Is the first thought that enters his mind.

His head is pounding, his throat is dry and itchy, his tongue is heavy in his mouth and tastes disgusting, his stomach hurts and he’s lying in a really uncomfortable position. In addition, his eyes feel kind of swollen – which he knows they aren’t - but they just feel like getting his lids to open up would be a task of herculean effort.

Instead, he tries to roll over into a comfortable position.

“Not again, come on.” A voice pierces the silence and **it feels like someone took a cheese grater to their brain.**

‘Good morning.’

**‘Oooohhh, that sssmaarrtsssss.’ Bill hisses and curls up on his other side.**

“Wait, are you waking up? Will?”

**“Shhhh.” He covers his ears. That much alcohol was definitely a bad idea.**

‘I agree.’ Will doesn’t want a repeat performance of that either.

**And great, he can’t even keep his concentration long enough to keep the filters up.**

‘I don’t mind?’ Is that how Bill sees their conversations? It’s funny to hear what the other is trying to think only for himself.

**‘Ugh, learn to keep your nose out of the unintentionally projected.’ Bill is glad to have learned that skill after Will had a few rather steamy images float around in the open.**

Around them, the room darkens, which Will just barely takes note of through his closed eyes, and they hear a long yawn. Then the voice whispers with a raspy voice: “I shut the blinds, do you want to something to drink?”

Dipper’s voice still caused his headache to intensify, but a glass of water sounds like heaven to him right now, and he nods before attempting to peel open his lids, rubbing the sleep out of them first.

They are in an infirmary?

‘How did we get here?’ he searches his memory, but can’t recall getting hurt in any way.

**He doesn’t remember!**

**In the now semi-privacy of their Mindscape, Bill cackles to himself.**

‘And you do, apparently?’

**‘Of course!’ He forces their body to sit up and takes the cup of water Pine Tree offers, promptly dunking it over his head.**

“Uhhh…” Will furrows his brow as the cold water runs down the back of his shirt – and cape, he realizes – probably also ruining his makeup. “That was not… **Can I have another?** Please?” he holds out the cup.

“Are you okay?” Dipper asks while filling it up again.

“No.” He deliberates. “I may have experience with living without key memories, but it is still disconcerting to wake up and be aware that you lost a few hours somewhere. Also, I hurt all over and the asshole is laughing ‘cause apparently, _he_ gets to remember? And because of him, I’m wet and my face probably looks horrifying.”

Dipper listens and hands him the second cup with a grin. “Don’t worry, it’s not any worse than before.”

“…”

The brunette has to fill up the cup a third time, now just as wet as Will. “Okay, I never actually talked to your other personality, so yesterday was kinda strange? Do you actually talk like that in private?” He turns, curiosity shining in his eyes, which- okay, woah, now that he’s looking, Will notices Dipper looks really fucking tired. “I don’t want to push or anything, but it’s kinda cool, if confusing as hell to listen to.” There are big shadows under his eyes, he is pale as a ghost and shaking a little.

**And he can’t believe he let himself get carried away enough for …. all that- to happen in the first place.**

“Are you okay?” Will asks, slowly figuring out how to ignore Bills self-admonishment.

“No, I haven’t really slept.” Dipper chuckles nervously. “I could really go for a cup of coffee or something.”

“How did we get here?”

“What?”

“Into the infirmary.” He makes a vague gesture at the room. “Did we get caught?” They had been running from various of the teachers patrolling the hallways, after all.

“Uhh, no?” Dipper hands him the third cup of water, which actually makes it into his body this time. “We just happened to hide in here. And it’s just a practice room, not actually an infirmary. Although, it kinda still is one, since it has to be stocked like one.”

“Okay?” he places the empty cup beside him on the bench.

Dipper fumbles with his hands for a moment, then he asks. “You don’t remember being in this room?”

Will shakes head slowly, the action a little easier now that he’d had a little water. “Nope. The last thing I recall is running from teachers. What happened?”

Dipper sighs. “You k-… you k-kinda-… passed out? And puked. Before passing out that is.”

“Really?” It would explain why his throat and mouth feel so gross. “I’m sorry. Guess I shouldn’t drink alcohol.”

“Don’t apologize.” He grimaced. “I should have paid better attention. I hadn’t realized you didn’t get any water in between drinks.”

“Is that important?”

“A little, yeah. Alcohol isn’t really good for staying hydrated, and water helps flush it out.”

Right then, Will’s stomach decided to voice its state of emptiness. “I doubt you got any food?” he jokes.

“No, but I think they set up a breakfast downstairs in the auditorium?” Dipper replies with a weak chuckle.

“How? I mean, isn’t it kinda early for that?”

Dipper frowns and holds up his phone.

“It’s like, 10:30, man.”

“Oh.” Will laughs, the sound causing what he’d almost describe to be like pins and needles _in the back of his brain_. “You think there’s still any food left then?”

Dipper shrugs and types away on his phone. “Should be. The others are already downstairs, and I think Dennis and your brother already ate. I don’t know about Wirt, he’s not replying to any of us.”

“Huh, why not?” Will hops down from the cot and takes a moment when the room tilts a little.

“He left the group chat last night, I think he and Clifford had a fight or something?” Dipper eases open the door and peeks around the corners. “All clear.” He waves Will out, then they sneak their way back downstairs to the auditorium.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT (May 7 19):  
> If anyone actually reads this, I need to ask you something.   
> This week is awful. I have barely any freetime, and the past two days I only slept around 9 hours in total, and coming home around 9 PM, tomorrow will be the same, and with the university assignments I have due, I just don't know where to find the time to write on the next chapter.   
> I can try to get it done on time, but in case I don't, would you rather wait another week for a regular or get something like half a chapter/teaser thing on Sunday?  
> Because personally, I hate the latter (reading them, not writing-wise), so I thought it would be good to ask.
> 
> Also, I dedicate this chapter to my ex-snake Freckles, most likely grilled by her heating lamp while I was writing it.   
> RIP TT-TT 


	45. Breakfast Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello eveyone!  
> Thank you all for letting me take a raincheck last week :D I now have the busiest part of this month behind me and will return with vengeance! >:D
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Holly~♥

“Really?“ Dennis tone spoke levels of disbelief, and nearly convinced Clifford that o _f course that’s nonsense, what were you thinking?_ – but then again, that is what Dennis must be thinking, right?

He’d just finished telling the other what happened after they split ways to look for Dipper and Will, and how the fight he had with Wirt resulted in the events that took place this morning.

Instead of delving into the Worry over his general state of mind – which was also something he could feel on his own, he now realized – he chose to stare down at the sad, cafeteria-variant of breakfast. He hadn’t even been able to get any tea. Some tea would be great right now.

“There’s nothing supernatural going on here, dude.” Dennis argued. “So, maybe you have trouble expressing your own emotions. And perhaps you’re just very empathetic and try to adapt to the former through that. Or some other psychological explanation. Ask your mom, she’s a therapist, she’ll probably give you a proper explanation.”

It was all horrible. Now that he was surrounded by other people, there wasn’t anything wrong at all.

But he was _aware of it_ now.

He read something like this once – not exactly like his situation, of course – where a realization of something that is usually done subconsciously triggers the person to take note of that thing much more than before and in a more exaggerated form than it actually is.

And was he _ever_ doing that.

Earlier, when he had finally decided to go to Dennis – who had already been eating breakfast when he arrived at the auditorium – he paid close attention to what he felt. When he had been in that hallway, all alone, it had just been Fear and Worry. Obviously, he also knew he could Care about Will – specifically him, that is, he tried to do the same for others without much of any success – but at the moment he’d been a little preoccupied with the other two.

Once he moved closer to other people, feelings like Tiredness and Exhaustion and Drowsiness began to poke at him. He knew that feeling from some mornings, where he had stayed longer in the kitchen and Will came down a bit early. Most of the time, they actually missed each other until Will had woken up, since the younger twin tended to shower before anything else most days. Those Feelings made him aware that he had been right, and was even now making him dismiss the more logical, non-supernatural explanation.

Because he didn’t feel tired himself then. He could identify the mental – or emotional – aspect of Drowsiness, but his physical body and brain were one hundred per cent wide awake.

The second argument to the supernatural thing was that his brother was possessed by a demon and he himself had memories of some sort of afterlife.

At the table he was sitting at with Dennis, Clifford barely held himself back from dramatically dropping his head into his breakfast.

Why him?

And now that half-past nine had just passed, more and more students began to pile in, and with each group, he was bombarded with more and more Feelings. The only positive about that was that he could actually see some differences.

There was a lazy background-noise of a general Tiredness, which only got a tiny bit louder with every person who entered– ….he didn’t actually know what they entered, was there a radius on whatever was going on?

There are little sparks of Excitement here and there, and when a rather sickly looking girl passes their table, he almost feels a physical urge to vomit. There is a sobbing girl in a corner clinging to her friend, and he can immediately identify Heartbreak.

He is a little relieved that this wasn’t an emotion he felt before. It meant Wirt wasn’t hurt as badly as this girl.

Whenever he concentrated on a single person, he could feel a little more than when he just let everything pass by. It probably explained why it had taken him so long to notice. He always oriented himself by Wills way of acting, and if he wasn’t, he was too busy worrying over the fact that they were separated to notice. But now that he’d gotten used to being apart, in a situation where he wasn’t alone in the morning and could see the sharp contrast between the emotionless tranquillity of a sleeping house, he felt the strong urge to facepalm. He’d been so oblivious.

And then there was a wave of Worry that was so strong and sudden that he had to look. He was a little surprised that he could pinpoint the source as quick as he did, honestly. Then again, he met the girl earlier today. Down at the line where everyone was putting together their breakfast, the girl from earlier was going from person to person, probably still inquiring after Anna’s whereabouts.

“-fford?” Dennis snapped his fingers in front of him.

“What?” he startled and after a last glance at the girl, tried to focus on his friend again.

“You haven’t been listening at all, right?”

“Yes I did. You said I should talk to my mom.”

Dennis gave him a look. “Yeah. That was – what? – ten minutes ago? I’ve been trying to tell you that you should call Wirt.”

“I’m sorry.” He apologized. “And I don’t think he wants to talk to me.” He’d been pretty clear on that, and Clifford didn’t want to push his friend any more than he might have done already.

Dennis groaned and rubbed his temples. “We still have to find him, dude. First Dipper and Will disappear off to somewhere, then you and Wirt. And Mabel and Deli followed shortly after. Man, I feel left out.” he dramatically placed a hand on his chest and made a wounded noise.

For a second, Clifford contemplated that sentence, then something in his brain must have broken, because Dennis was snapping his fingers again.

“What?” he managed to press out. “Wait.”

Judging from what he witnessed between Mabel and Cordelia last night, the two were in a relationship. Apparently, Wirt had a crush on him.

Where did that leave Will and Dipper?

“Are-…Did-..you-?” he wasn’t sure how to word this properly.

“Hey boyos!” Someone slung arms over his shoulders. Judging from the red hair falling over his face, it was Cordelia. “Good morning!”

There was a lot of Excitement bubbling over from her and Mabel, and he had to smile in spite of himself. “Cordelia, please remove your hair from my breakfast.”

She laughed at him, but plopped down at the table. “So, how is the morning treating ya?”

Dennis made a gesture at Clifford. “Well, Wirt and Clifford had a fight and now Clifford thinks he is a sociopath or something.”

Clifford is about to protest the latter, but Mabel picks up the other topics before he can say something.

“Yeah, he told me not to worry about him, he went home last night.”

“What?!” Dennis looks shocked. “Man, what did you fight about?” he looks to Clifford.

“I-…” he doesn’t even really know himself. He hurt the other by acting without thinking – or feeling maybe, now that he thinks about it – and then he hadn’t been able to apologize.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, like I said, don’t worry.” Mabel gestures with her phone as she’s typing. “He’s written when he left, when he arrived home, and then an hour later when he needed some advice. He left the group because he needs to sort out some personal stuff on his own and he didn’t want to get distracted. Here.” She holds out her phone where she marked a message.

 

 **Wirt, 2:11 AM:** I’m sorry I just dumped this all on you, but I can’t talk to the others right now. I still _want_ to be a part of the group and all that, but I just really can’t right now. I need some time to figure out some personal stuff and I just wanted you all to know I’m okay. I don’t know how much you and Dipper are alike, but he’d want proof so…

 **Wirt, 2:14 AM:** Here’s proof I’m home, Greg left Jason’s terrarium open again.

 

Underneath the messages is a picture of Wirt’s room, with the giant frog lying on his bed.

“We’ve been writing since nine-ish.” Mabel added. “So he’s fine. Any news on the remaining two?”

Clifford breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t quite know if it came from Dennis or himself, and he pondered if the Care he had for Will maybe wasn’t that exclusive. That would actually be great. He would feel less like a freak if it turned out he _could_ care for others.

“Nothing except what’s already in the chat.” Dennis sighs. “Since they were still up so late, maybe they’re still asleep? Although, it’s nearly ten, they should be up by now.”

“I’m just gonna message them.” Cordelia pulled out her own phone.

Clifford feels his own phone vibrate in response to the many messages going into The Elite and decides to put it on silent. Right now, he sort of understands the need for a quiet phone when trying to figure some things out.

Was Wirt even talking about them? Or was it something else that happened later?

It had all happened so quickly and now he wasn’t even sure if he’d been right in his assumption that the other might have a crush on him. Maybe he had been wrong about that after all?

“Dipper’s asking if there’s still food left.” Mabel remarks and Cordelia peeks over the small wall next to their table and looks over to the tables with the food.

“Seems like it.” she replies.

After a few moments, Mabel nods. “It’ll take them a bit, they're up on the sixth floor.”

It takes the two roughly ten minutes, during which Mabel and Clifford decide to go downstairs and secure a breakfast for their siblings. While they were both in line, Mabel suddenly spoke up.

“Okay, but what did Dennis mean about you being a sociopath?”

Clifford groaned. “I don’t think I’m a sociopath, he just didn’t get what I actually meant.”

“What did you mean?”

“Nevermind.” He shook his head. “I’m probably just imagining things.” He knew he wasn’t, but he felt like she would be just like Dennis and not believe him. Hell, if it wasn’t for the situation with Will and his brain demon, he might not believe himself.

“Try me.” Mabel offered a smile. “Me and Dipper have seen some crazy things over the years.”

The boy stared at her. “Are you psychic?” he asked.

“No, but you had that face people have when they don’t wanna talk about something-… unusual happening to them. Wirt does it too sometimes.”

Right. He almost forgot, Mabel knew about Will’s demon thing. And if what Will said was right, she took that seriously too. Sensing an opportunity to not talk about his own problem, while getting more info on what was going on with Will – he was certain his twin glossed over some things so he wouldn’t worry so much – he decided to take it.

“Does Will do it too?”

Mabel's face did a funny thing, then she shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. “I don’t know.”

He had to let out a wry chuckle at that. “As if you didn’t notice, you watch him like a hawk.”

“I do not!” she protested, cheeks reddening.

“Yes, you do. I know what you’re watching out for.”

“Really?” she looked astonished.

“And _now_ I know that you are actually looking for it.” he smirked. “I only talked to-… it? him?” he shrugged. “Whatever it is, I only talked to it a few times, and I’m still not sure what to think.” It was really hard to talk about this when he wasn’t sure if the other person _actually_ knew what he was talking about.”

Mabel made a thoughtful face. “You know, I was pretty sure Bill was a ‘he’, but I’m not really sure? It could have just been his voice?”

“Seriously? His name is Bill?” He’d had a feeling the demon actually had a name and just didn’t want Will to tell him, but this was a little convenient. He told Mabel so.

“So you actually had a talk with him?” she didn’t seem to believe him, but it was directed more at the fact that he ‘had a talk’ with the guy, rather than the statement that there was a demon in the first place, which was relieving.

“Yes. Will is trying to act like nothing is going on, or this Bill guy is, I don’t know. But whoever of them it was, there hasn’t been talk about Wills personality disorder for weeks, and I don’t know how long that will last until someone notices that it’s really not a personality disorder at all.” That realisation had been concerning, but he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Will since he’d noticed this, so he hoped that they could have a talk about that later today.

“We need to talk about this, actually.” Mabel sighed when they reached the end of the queue. “But to me, the most important question is if you think whether they are a threat or not. And don’t look at me like that!” she argued when he frowned at her. “I like Will, okay? I just really, really dislike Bill, and I just want to know if he’s up to something. And I told him to wear the necklace. It’s supposed to keep Bill away!” she hissed.

“He never wears it at home.” He used the shocked silence to think for a moment and put together some food for Will. “…I feel like Will is protecting the demon, and I don’t think it- Bill – can do much at the moment? But I can’t look into people’s heads-” or maybe he could? Something to consider there… “- and I don’t know if the thing is just laying low because it wants to be left alone or if it’s doing it because it’s ‘up to something’. Sorry.”

Mabel sighed and stepped away from the food to return to their table. “Still, thanks.”

When they began to head back to the others, Clifford tried to actually reach out consciously to find out how Mabel was feeling.  He found that this what _not_ how it worked. Apparently. He still had no idea how it would _actually_ work, or what _it_ even was, but for now, taking this on by process of elimination seemed like the only possible way to figure out these questions.

When they came up the stairs, he spotted Dipper and Will at their table. Their hair looked kinda damp, and both looked like they could use a good night’s sleep.

“I’ll text you about this later, okay?” she says quietly and then moves ahead. “Hey guys!” she beamed, and for a moment, Clifford was both impressed and wary of her ability to switch gears so quickly.

Will grimaced. “Hi.” He croaked.

“Why is your hair wet?” Clifford asked as he slipped into his seat and placed the plate next to him at Wills seat.

“I had a cup of water dumped over my head.” He replied with a thankful smile and began to dig into the breakfast. Clifford shot an irritated look at Dipper.

“You say that as though I’m the one that did it!” he protested with a laugh as he sat down. “You are the one who dumped water on _me_!”

Now Mabel was the insulted looking one.

Will shook his head. “No, I’m saying it like: it wasn’t my idea, nor am I the one who did it. Clifford gets it.” Will gestured vaguely when he noticed Clifford’s exasperated sigh and nod.

“You- he- Why would you do that?” Mabel stammered incredulously.

Will tilted his head in an _off_ fashion. When he next spoke, Clifford could nearly feel a difference, and he dug a little deeper. “It was hot, the water was cold.” He shrugged. The emotions here were different for a short moment, then it seemed like there was a flip somewhere and Will was back to normal.

It was almost funny that no one noticed this. Also, it explained why he had always been better at telling who was who when talking to Will, even in the earlier month when Will and Bill – still weird that the demon now had a name after all – when they’d had regular conversations with each other out loud. Those had stopped once they started going to school.

“And I was teasing him, so I kinda deserved it too.” Dipper shrugged and continued eating.

“What’s up with Wirt, by the way?” Will asked.

Cordelia shrugged. “He left last night, he said he needs to figure out some personal stuff and wants to be left alone for a bit.”

Dipper frowned. “That seems kinda suspicious.”

Mabel laughed at that and held up her phone to her brother. “Yeah, that’s why he sent a proof-pic.” Dipper looked it over for a few moments, then nodded.

“Yeah, okay, that seems legit. Still,-…” he cut himself off, then hung his head a bit and mumbled. “Nevermind.”

“What?”

“I was about to say it’s kinda rude to just run off, but…”

“Yeah, that’s kinda what we did.” Will nodded. “Sorry we made you guys worry.”

Dennis leaned forwards and put his fingertips together in front of his mouth. “Now. Please confirm nothing happened.”

Dipper choked on a piece of waffle, while Will blinked and said: “Well, we weren’t caught by any teachers, if that’s what you-…” he paused, lost in thought for a second. Then Clifford witnessed what his dad meant by Will blushing was hilarious. The colour just bloomed outwards from his cheeks and went ll the way to his ears and neck. “No!” he squeaked as Dennis began to laugh. “Nothing like that! I think?” This made Dennis howl with laughter, Cordelia joining in.

“Wait, what, you think?” Mabel spluttered. “Dipper?”

“He was _drunk_.” He stressed the whispered word with a frustrated grimace, still hoarse from his attempts to dislodge the food from his lungs.

Cordelia made a dramatically scandalised face. “ _Dipper_!”

“That’s not what I meant, it’s just why he doesn’t remember!” he hissed.

“Will.” Clifford tried to get his attention. “What happened?”

“I don’t know? We were dancing, then we went into the hallway, then we went upstairs and hid from teachers and then I woke up in the infirmary. Only it wasn’t the infirmary, it was some gross-smelling training room.”

“Holy fuck, you passed out drunk?” Dennis whistled. “Dude. No wonder Dipper went nuts there.”

“What.” Clifford glared at Dipper again. “Why didn’t you call an ambulance?”

“Uh, no offense?” Mabel piped up. “I wouldn’t have called an ambulance either? With these kind of things, ambulance and police are often a package deal and we _are_ still minors.” She rolled her eyes. “We can buy our own fireworks, vote, drive a car, have sex with anyone our age or older and we can even buy a house and move out if we want, but we are not allowed to drink.”

Dennis nodded in agreement. “Yeah. It sucks balls. Like, I could literally move out and just drink at home, but even if I did, if I got caught I could be arrested for drinking in my own home? And even better, I am allowed to get a driver’s license and drive, but I can’t rent a car until I’m 20.”

Cordelia shrugged. “Well, I’m fine without a car. I just need a bike and public transportation. It’s better for the environment anyways.”

“It’s not _the point_ , Deli!” Dennis groaned. She laughed in response. “So, yeah, I agree with them, Clifford. Sorry.”

Will gave him an awkward, one-armed hug. “And by the way, everything worked out fine, right? And I’m not touching alcohol again, so there won’t be a repeat performance.”

Clifford sighed and gave in. Just hoping Will would keep that semi-promise.

 

\-------------------------

 

By the time they all packed up their stuff and went outside to wait for their parents to pick them up, Will’s headache had almost cleaned up entirely. They all stood by the gates, and Will felt like he and Dipper were the odd ones out, since everyone was typing away at their phones conspicuously.

Actually, he may have never even noticed it, since the conversation still flowed from one topic to the next – currently, they were talking about a movie Cordy had rediscovered from her childhood movie box – if Bill hadn’t pointed it out at some point.

 **He hadn’t given Will anything substantial though. Mabel and Clifford were writing about him, which really wasn’t the most ideal thing. Bill just hoped they wouldn’t decide to out him to anyone. And Cordy** **had banded together with Dennis and Mabel to plan some sort of make-up scheme for Clifford and Wirt.**

“By the way, there is a show in the planetarium nearby this weekend, do you guys have some time?” Dennis asked off-handedly.

**At the same time, he sent a text with almost the same question to Wirt.**

Clifford looked interested. “Sounds interesting, what is it about?”

Dennis shrugged. “I dunno, space?”

It did sound a little interesting, but Will didn’t feel like walking through some sort of museum to learn about stars.

“Actually,” Cordelia said apologetically. “You know the movie I just talked about? It just made me want to go out and to something.” Cordy sighs. “So. I’m kinda booked out next weekend, I wanted to go hiking up in the mountains, climb a rock wall or something. Kinda don’t wanna do it alone though?”

“That’s fine. We can split up for once?” Dennis suggested.

“Sounds good to me!” Mabel agreed and threw her arms around Cordy. “I’m with you! Dip-Dop?” Mabel looked at him questioningly and he seemed torn for a moment, then his shoulders sagged with a sigh.

“I don’t know? What do you want to do?” he turned to ask Will.

He shrugged. “I don’t know either. I just… don’t really want to go around a museum or something to check out pictures of stars?” he said to Dennis.

“Nah, it’s fine. Me and Clifford can have some fun too, right?”

**They were so bad at this, it was actually entertaining. Trying so hard to get Wirt and Clifford to spend some time alone. Logically, Dennis going with the two of them would have it easier to just disappear to leave them alone, but it wasn’t quite so easy to get Clifford away from Will.**

Clifford suddenly looked uncomfortable. “I don’t know.”

**“You can go, you know.” He might as well try to help this along. It was like living a soap opera. Actually better than just watching.**

Will noted The Look Clifford gave him and added to Bill's sentence. “We can stand being apart for a bit, and I don’t think you want to climb up a cliff?”

‘Now that I think about it, I don’t even know if I can do that…’

“Also, I think I could use some exercise more than you, Mr I-spend-five-hours-in-the-garden-to-relax.”

Dennis shot Clifford a horrified look. “Dude. You need a break. I don’t care what you say, I’m showing up on Saturday to drag you there myself.”

**Dennis had just gotten an okay from Wirt for Saturday.**

 


	46. Not actually a cliff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Funny story about this one:  
> I was about to use the concept of moveable vacation days to explain the week off, then I noticed that these are only a thing in my home country, and not even in all parts of it :O  
> And following that was the realization that the week would have been off anyway and it doesn’t need an explanation xDD Because here, we don’t get Halloween off D: Not even the day itself! TToTT
> 
> So yeah, except my sadness that my people don't consider Halloween a holiday, everythings going great!  
> I'm just glad I finally got that unbelievably long party done ^_^'
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Holly~♥

For once, Will would have preferred going to school over having holidays. It really was only a few days of free time, but he would have given them up if it meant Wirt would talk to them again.

From what the others had written in the group, Wirt was not talking much, but every once in a while Cordelia or Mabel would get a message from him, and Dennis was still coordinating the whole ‘Get Clifford and Wirt to talk’-thing

Bill had told him about that the moment they were home and alone.

Which was probably for the best, since he could actually help that along now. He hadn’t been lying when he said he wanted to climb a cliff, but if he hadn’t known about the plan, he might have been more drawn to the planetarium thing, especially after looking up what that even was. And now he kinda wanted to go there instead. But for the sake of his brother, he would leave that to Dennis. It would be harder to get the two to be alone together if Will was there. To get Clifford away from him for a day was hard enough, but he assumed it would be even harder to get him to stay with Wirt while he and Dennis went off to somewhere else.

So, he would go climb a mountain with the girls and Dipper.

After arriving home, Clifford had locked himself in his room to mope. **Although he said he was studying for the tests next week, Bill had peeked and he was mostly just staring off into the distance and checking his phone periodically for messages that never came.** So hopefully, getting the two to talk about that fight from the party should put a stop to that.

He had been about to start a round of gaming after breakfast, when Clifford pulled him from his room to study as well. Will had a strong suspicion that his brother was only doing this to remind himself to actually study, but he played along and pretended to learn, **while Bill kept telling him the answers to each and every question in the books.**

Just after lunch, they were pulled away from their schoolwork when the others sent them the preferred times for their respective outings tomorrow. Dennis suggested to meet Clifford around 2 PM at the planetarium and Cordelia let Will know that her mom would pick them all up around 10 AM, so they had enough time to get to the mountain and have a good, long hike.

They all agreed and Will managed to get Clifford into the garden for a while. Regardless of what he’d said about his twin’s hobby, it sure helped to make the other boy relax. And something calming now would probably help him tomorrow.

And then there was the whole thing with the… merging. When the alcohol had broken down the walls between him and Bill and they had been in total agreement for a few moments. It had been awesome, in his opinion, but apparently Bill didn’t share the sentiment. **He actually got pretty vocal about that, but at least one good thing had come out of that.** They’d had a long talk later that evening, and ended up with a more flexible way of doing things than before. **Annoyingly, Bill had to show Will how to meditate so they could get the entire thing to work,** but after a couple of tries, he’d managed it.

‘This place again.’ Will thought when he saw a first glimpse of the space he’d seen in his dreams and – just two weeks ago – when he caught Bill during his fit of rage. Those times, it had been fuzzy or too short to make sense of or he’d woken up and the memory of the place faded within seconds.

So he took a minute to actually take it in.

This was clearly their Mindscape Bill was talking about all the time. There were bits and pieces here and there that he recognized, parts of their house and garden, of the hospital, but beyond those few recognizable pieces lay complete darkness. When he stepped towards it and poked his finger in, it was both freezing cold and burning heat at the same time, and he pulled back quickly, blowing on it and sticking it in his mouth, unsure how to treat the injury. Thankfully, the burning cold sensation faded quickly once leaving the Nothing in front of him. He took a few steps back into what looked like parts of his room with a mixture of furniture from both school and their living room. There were barely any walls anywhere, the few bits and pieces of wall were only halfway there and crumbling apart, the Nothing behind them threatening to swallow them.

**‘You’re being dramatic. Sure, some amnesia swallows more and more, but yours has been done feeding for years.’**

Looking around, he found the source of the voice standing behind a giant screen that mirrored back at him what was around him. Except himself, barrier reflected the rooms around him, the Nothing – apparently his missing memories with a fierce temper – and now that he was looking, he noticed the many floating things above. They were everywhere above the little space he had that wasn’t consumed by darkness and idled about. Some flew in quick, tight spirals

_‘Holy fuck what even is this place why does my head look like this am I really that broken-’_

some drifted past gently as though carried on a soft breeze

_‘I just want this to work’_

or were almost stationary in their lazy floating.

_‘Now that Halloween is over Christmas is coming up. I should keep an eye out for gifts.’_

Objects in different shapes and sizes, like a slightly larger than normal moth

_‘I don’t even know what Clifford said, perhaps Wirt is angry for a reason?’_

chased by what looked like a shadowy stag.

These were thoughts. Worries and wishes and plans and fears, all given shape.

**‘Yes, yes, that’s sooo cool, now come over here so we can do this properly.’**

He redirected his gaze to the him reflected in the mirror, who was standing in a different spot, in a different pose. Will looked down at his hands and noticed that his entire right side was in greyscale. He inhaled sharply when his eyes drifted to the others face and spotted the hole where his eye should - well, shouldn’t be.

**‘What, you didn’t notice that the other time?’**

Bill – because that was Bill, not some weird reflection – sighed and leaned against nothing. It looked very strange. Just like last time, he too had half his colours missing, but now Will noticed that each of them only had colours on the sides that were more easy for them to take control of. Bill had told him he resided in his left brain, and his entire left side was grey and black and white. He also wore something that looked like an altered version of their Halloween costume.

 **‘I liked the cape.’** Watching his own face grin without grinning himself was a little odd, but he decided to roll with it. Besides, it looked pretty cool.

About a foot above his head, a handheld mirror formed and drifted off lazily.

The dried blood on the cheek below his missing eye was still jarring. Especially since now, the other had pulled his hair back as they’d done for the costume and the dead socket was glaringly obvious. He knew, of course, that the glass eye in his skull was fake, but seeing so the wound so clearly was disgusting.

**Bill sighed. ‘And here I was thinking it looked cool.’ He ruffled the blonde hair back over the socket. ‘Better?’**

Will nodded. ‘Wait-’ A small stop sign appeared and launched itself through the mirror, disappearing into it.

**‘You are still not shielding your thoughts, I can see all of them from here.’ He made a face. ‘Also, you look like you might have puked.’**

The mirror in front of him changed, a door appearing in the glass.

**‘Come on over, I’ll show you what I mean.’**

Will passed thro **ugh the door.**

**He looked pretty awestruck. Then again, he had such a tiny space left, while Bills ‘half’ of their Mindscape was easily three times bigger.**

**Also, from the boy’s side, the barrier would definitely look different. Bill had made sure that Will wouldn’t be able to hear his private thoughts, but the kid hadn’t done the same. Therefore, the barrier from his side looked more like the surface of a soap bubble, thin, mostly see through with random rainbow glimmers shining across.**

So that was how he did it!

**‘Think you can imagine that differently?’ he suggested to the kid.**

**Will looked over to where Bill was leaning against a piece of wall – reminiscent of the Fearamid – and tilted his head.** ‘What?’

**He pinched his nose. ‘The barrier! Just make it not see through. And I don’t care how long it takes you, you’re meditating until you get that right. I’m tired of always seeing what you think. We can work on you not sending random thoughts over at another time, but I think you might want some amount of privacy to start with, hmm?’**

**Will pouted and sat down on the floor glaring at the barrier. On the other side, small Ideas of walls and fences were forming, the latter quickly evaporating while the former stayed and split apart mutating into different designs. It took him a good while, but once he’d settled on what to do, he actually managed to get his own barrier in place pretty quickly. For human standard, that is.**

**Now faced with a neat brick wall, Bill made a grimace. There were still a few uncontrollable thoughts drifting over – which had been the main point to fixing the barrier – but at least the sight was blocked now.**

‘I did it!’

**‘Great.’ He retorted unenthusiastically. ‘Now back to the original topic.’ He pushed off the ground and floated up to sit down on the wall, his new vantage point just a little bit higher than Will, forcing him to look up at Bill. ‘This barrier is in place for a good reason.’ He started. ‘I don’t want to be part of you, you don’t want to be part of me. And neither of us can leave this body without getting lost to the world completely, something I hope you find easy to believe after seeing the sorry state your amnesia left you in.’**

**Will lowered his head and nodded slowly. The kid knew exactly what he was talking about.** ‘But during the party-’

**‘What happened then-’ he interrupted. ‘-was an accident. It will not happen again if I can help it.’ Oh sure, the lure of the Wholeness that situation brought was strong. But if the barrier got destroyed completely…**

**For once, he didn’t actually _know_.**

**Bill gritted his teeth. At least to himself, he could admit that. This entire debacle was something new. He’d never shared a body with anybody. It was either all Bill or not. They either fought him off – only if they knew what he was trying to do – or they were taken by surprise and kicked out before they could kick up a fuss.**

‘We could take turns more often?’ Will suggested, ‘I’m tired of wearing the necklace, honestly. Let’s just tell Mabel do deal with it.’

**‘Yeah yeah, fine by me.’ Then he unceremoniously kicked the other out.**

Will snapped out of his meditation, disoriented. ‘Hey!’

**He’d thought a little tween in a coma near death wouldn’t put up much of a fight and in some way, he’d been right. Will hadn’t been able to fight back much, but he still did. The kid had a surprising amount of mental strength left and since his only choice was to get a host or be scattered to the winds, Bill had almost-**

**Then Clifford had taken it upon himself to keep the dying soul of his twin alive. The half-destroyed mind of the child had latched itself onto the also half-there remains of the demon and then… he’d been stuck behind closed eyelids and vague impressions shining through that soap bubble of a barrier for over three years before the lights went back on and Wills soul was able to return to its mindscape.**

**He had made sure to block any of his own mental ramblings from then on.**

 

\--------------

 

“You’re not wearing _it_.” Mabel hissed beside him.

As promised, at 10 AM, Cordelia’s mom had picked him up, then they’d collected Dipper and Mabel before driving the long way to nature. The plan was to hike up as far as they could before 3 PM, either per the provided paths or by going off the trails and actually climbing a bit, which was what they hoped for. At 3 PM, they would start going back down, so they would be able to make it back to the parking lot to be picked up around eight in the evening. Each of them was armed with a backpack full of food and water and the four had set out from the parking lot at the foot of the mountain roughly an hour ago, and _now_ Mabel had pulled him back to talk about this, again?

He couldn’t suppress a groan. “I’m fucking done, Mabel.” He kept his voice low to not attract the attention of Cordelia and Dipper, the latter of whom was regaling the red head with some tales of what may or may not live in these woods. “We talked it out and **it’s all fine.** **None of us are actually happy with our situation** , but we’re making the most of it. Which means sharing and not just stuffing each other’s mouth.” They both agreed that appealing to her semi-friendship with Will, he added. “Besides, if we just take turns, neither of us is suppressing the other.”

**Another good thing that had come of their talk the other day. The door Bill had made was very much still there and an unexpected perk was that their interaction with each other and the world around them went smoother than before. He’d come to realize that he was probably unable to take over completely, and he knew Will wouldn’t know what to do with himself without him, so it was a nice development that enabled them to work together more efficiently.**

**But he wasn’t quite as okay with the idea of actually merging as they did during the party.**

“You can’t-! I’ll-!” she searched for words.

 **Bill scoffed. “What? You’ll rat us out? To who? Even if you do, personally, I don’t care anymore.”** Will shrugged. “I’m okay with that too. The demon part of the story is weird enough that most people will think you’re crazy though, so watch out for that.” Truly, the only part he was really concerned about now.

Because if people – either their friends or whoever else she thought of telling – didn’t believe Mabel, she’d be thought of as crazy. And if they did believe her, they’d either react to it as Clifford had done and just accept the circumstance, or they’d react badly and…

“I mean, what would people even do if they found out?” he asked. Her face fell and he realized she didn’t have an actual answer to that. **Bill let out a laugh. “You don’t even have an idea?!”**

“Sh-Shut up!” she fumed and stomped ahead, where the other two had turned to look what was up.

“What’s so funny?” Cordy asked as they caught up.

“Nothing.” Mabel grumbled, red with either embarrassment or anger – maybe both. She took hold of Cordy’s hand and fell into step with her while Will took the space beside Dipper, the two walking as far apart as possible. For a few moments, the four walked in silence, when Cordy broke the silence.

“Guys,” she chuckled. “We’re walking like a boy band.”

“Don’t we need a fifth member for that?” Dipper asked with a smile. “And, I don’t know, all be boys?”

“Pfft, we’re cooler than any boy band anyhow.” She waved off the remark.

When the path came split off in two directions, they took the one that seemed like it led further up the mountain, where the trees grew less between boulders peeking out from the bushes. The trees around them that had leaves were slowly beginning to lose their colourful foliage, while the few other trees – the ones with needles, not leaves – what were those called again?

‘They aren’t all pines, I’m sure. Clifford would know this.’

“What do you call the non-leafy trees?” he asked. When he looked down the short line they had formed, he saw Mabel giving him an incredulous stare from the other side.

“Coniferous?” Dipper offered.

“Ah.”

“Why?” Cordy asked.

“I was just looking around and realized I had no idea.” He shrugged.

Suddenly they reached a part of the path where it sloped down again.

“And this is the moment we go off-road.” Cordy said and swerved right into the bush-covered rocks, barely missing a step despite having to climb up a rock nearly went up to her hip. There she paused.

“Are you guys with me?” she grinned. Shrugging, Dipper clambered up as well, which made Mabel and Will follow as well. In front of them laid a steady climb covered with scraggy rocks and boulders, still mostly shaded by the few trees, but covered with bushes and brambles.

“Ouch.” Will made, realizing what he had signed up for.

“Oh hush!” Cordy laughed. “We’re gonna have fun!”

 

\---------------

 

After trekking through the rocks and **spike traps of nature** , they came to a small stream that led through the rocks and actually connected back to the path they left earlier. Or at least it was part of _a_ path. There was a small bridge – tiny really, it was just a couple plank with some designs carved into it that was nailed onto a few wooden blocks in the water.

After Mabel and Cordy had crossed the three-plank-bridge, Will began to make his way across.

 **He must have misstepped or found the weak point of the whole thing** or something, because the foot he’d just placed on the middle of the bridge went right through with a sharp CRACK and he was suddenly standing in water to mid-thigh with his left leg. **Within less than a blink he realized that he’d stepped wrong onto the stones in the creek and that he was going to fall in.** Thankfully, before he could even wave his arms to regain his balance, A strong grip on his arms kept him upright.

“How did that happen?!” Dipper exclaimed behind him with a laugh in his voice.

Cordy snorted. “Stepped onto any scales lately? Perhaps you should cut back on the candy.”

Dipper used the hold he had on him to help Will out of the water, then carefully hopped over the broken part of the bridge, happy to not destroy it any further.

 **“I’m pretty sure it was the carvings.” The break looked pretty clean.** “Perhaps it was just a weak spot.”

“M-hmmm. Sure.” Cordy grinned teasingly and poked him in the chest. “I say this is perfect for you! Some exercise is gonna do you some good.” She stuck out her tongue at him.

Meanwhile Will was a little busy gushing over the fact that Dipper had saved him.

**‘Fucking hell, you would have just gotten wet!’ He watched the whole Mushiness spill over, but for once, he didn’t move.**

**Whatever.**

**The kid was starting to grow on him.**

‘Yeah! It’s already disgusting to walk with a wet shoe.’ He made a face after the first couple steps. The water was squelching and it felt like the shoe was filled with glue.

“Guys. This is disgusting.” He voiced this complaint aloud with a gesture at his foot. “What can I do about it?”

“Take a break?” Cordy suggested.

“Sounds goo, actually.”

They took a seat on the rocks before the stream and took out their lunches. Will promptly took the opportunity to take off his shoes and socks to lay them on rocks to dry out, and to pick out the few thorns from his pants that he had missed while they were moving.

“Why? Some of these bushes have fruit that wants to be eaten so they can spread. So why put _thorns_ on them?” he grumbled and flicked another thorn into the water.

“Dunno.” Cordy shrugged, then offered an open lunchbox full of apple slices. “Want some?”

He took one of the offered slices and checked his own snacks. “I got some grapes.” He offered in return.

Their usual lunchbreak went like that. One person had this kind of food, the other had something else. Then everyone traded around until they all ended up with a mix of everyone’s lunch. Today, Cordy stole a few grapes for the apple slice she’d offered, joined by a few slices of cucumber from Mabel, who gladly traded all of her cucumber for a mix of both their fruits and vegetables and ended up with a few apple slices, a handful of grapes and the other half of the healthy part of her lunch, which was a carrot. Dipper had the same, cucumber and carrot, but was content with trading half his carrots for the rest of Mabel’s cucumber and Will snuck him some of his grapes.

Their actual sandwiches were theirs to keep though, and it was rare that anyone would want to trade out their candy bar of the day, so after they had settled the ‘healthy lunch trade’, the four sat back against the rocks and ate in silence.

 **It would have been completely comfortable if Mabel didn’t send disapproving glances their way every so often,** but Will could sort of understand that the whole thing must look pretty sudden to her.

‘She didn’t know that we haven’t actually charged the stone for months.’

“So, uh,” Dipper broke the silence when he finished about half of his lunch. “What about next week? Got all that studying in?” he laughed.

Cordy groaned. “Oh shut up, I don’t wanna talk about that. Look around, guys!” she waved her arms.

“Nature,” at the trees and bushes,

“fresh air,” towards the few fluffy clouds in the sky,

“sparkling clear water.” The moment she gestured to the stream, a plastic bag drifted by.

“Except for that.” She amended. “But besides that, this is a beautiful day and we’re only going to talk about beautiful things,” If the girls didn’t shoot each other a look then, they might have noticed Will darting his eyes over to Dipper for a second. “a-and that means: No School Allowed. So hush.”

“Sorry.” Dipper held up his hands placatingly and grinned remorselessly.

After a short, but overplayed discussion on the beauty of nature, which included an enthralling monologue about a pebble Mabel found nearby, the group packed up their lunches and began to head further.

 

\---------------------------

 

One hour away from their goal of getting as high as possible by 3 PM, they reached a little picnic area which was labelled ‘Mountaintop’.

Cordy deadpanned at the fenced-off, rocky area that went up near vertically beside it. “That is not correct.” She said in reference to the sign. Then she started to climb the fence. It didn’t look that hard, actually, since the fence only went up to their waist.

After sharing a look, they all followed the redhead’s example.

“Up to the _very_ top of this mountain!” she exclaimed.

The wall in front of them wasn’t actually that vertical and whenever they could find a stable foothold, they could actually just lie down on it to rest their hands for a bit. Still, it was a tough climb to make in boots and without any help form tools or climbing gear. Struggles occurred, which included, but weren’t limited to Dipper grabbing onto a patch of thistles, Cordelia slipping and sliding down a meter and Will – repeatedly – grabbing a handhold the wrong way and bending a fingernail.

“Eeewwww!” he shook his hand went it happened again. **“Whyy!?” he addressed the thumb at fault. “Why do you do this?!”**

“Just to gross people with long nails out.” Cordy replied with an out-of-breath chuckle. Then she heaved herself onto the top of the wall. “Ooof. Ha!”

Looking around, they were now clearly on the highest point of this mountain peak. There was a little ledge and a boulder, and while Cordelia and Mabel climbed up to the actual very highest point, Will was happy to stay where he was and give Dipper a hand for the last bit. Settling back against the rocks, they all tried to catch their breath and enjoyed the view.

From up here, they could see for miles. Autumn and the generally dry weather of summer had lent the landscape a strong orange and brown hue, with only the occasional greens peeking through. The sun was beginning to come closer to the horizon, although it might still be half an hour or so until it actually began to set. When Will turned his head, he spotted a large river and towns in between the forests. The wind up here was pretty strong, but it wasn’t too cold. When he had regained some of his breath, he dug out his water bottle and gulped down almost a third of it before sighing and slumping back against the stone.

“Now, this is what I call a view.” Cordy sighed contently from above, followed by a soft and exhausted hum from Mabel.

A moment later, Dipper leaned a little his way, then retreated before exhaling and then leaning his head on Wills shoulder.

He couldn’t stop the giant, probably goofy smile from forming on his face. A sneaky look to the other revealed the relaxed smile on the brunette's face and slowly, he slid down a few inches to make themselves more comfortable.

There was a soft hum of appreciation followed by a yawn.

**Up above, Cordy and Shooting Star had taken out their lunch and were feeding each other. Gross.**

‘Why do you call her Shooting Star?’

**‘It’s a nickname.’ He hadn’t even realized he would be sending over his own thoughts on the things he Saw as well. Might have to watch out for that.**

Will was careful when he pulled out the rest of his own lunch from his bag. Wordlessly, the two of them shared most of what was left of their snacks, leaving only a few snack bars for the way back down.

They had been sitting there for over half an hour when Cordy sighed. “Now we have to get back down.”

 **Dread settled in his stomach and he looked down the wall they had just climbed.** They must have made a face, because Dipper laughed loudly before stretching.

“We’ll manage.” He assured Will.

 **While the general rule of thumb is that object move down faster and easier than they do upwards, it would be poor judgement to apply this to humans.** Therefore, the downwards descent was a mixture of very slowly finding a safe spot, then sliding down to it. Will had just managed to touch down on the ground in front of the fence and took a moment to stretch before starting to climb over.

What happened next didn’t take longer than three seconds.

**About two meters above them, Dipper slid his right arm right into a stray struggling stinging nettle. Really, incredible what globalisation does, those aren’t even native- and he’s falling.**

Will had a foot on one of the metal rungs and was about to pull himself up and over. **Instead, Bill used that momentum, twisted them around and collided mid-air with the other teen.**

CLONG!

“FUCK!” Will yelled, then held his head – which just got closely acquainted with the metal fence – and whimpered.

“Oh shit, are you okay?” Dipper quickly scrambled off him and helped him stand up.

“Holy crap, what happened?” Cordy hopped down the last few foot of the wall and carefully pulled over Wills head. “You’re not bleeding at least, but that’ll be a nasty bump. Especially since we don’t really have something cold to put on it.”

“Urrgghh.” He wasn’t quite sure if he really wasn’t bleeding, but putting even slight pressure on the side of his head made him whimper in pain. **“** W **h** y **y** y **y**? **”** t **h** e **y** h **i** s **s** e **d**.

“You’ve asked that a lot today.” Cordy tried to make light of the situation. “Perhaps you just got unlucky.”

When she hopped over the fence, Will got a look at Mabel’s astounded and confused look. **In hindsight, Bill realized she had seen _all_ of that. Including the part where Will couldn’t possibly have seen that. He pointed a finger at her, slightly wavering from the pain in his head. “Shut up.” He said sharply, then fixed the fence with a glare that could have killed once upon a time.**

With the help of the others, they all managed to get Will over the fence and down the staircase, where they went to a nearby water faucet and told him to just put his head under running water for a while.

“If I drown in there, you’re responsible.” He sighed and complied. The water _was_ actually a relief, and he stayed under the faucet for a long while filled with remarks about how crazy he was and admonishments to never do that again.

“I don’t know what I was thinking.” He said, hoping to prompt a response from Bill.

**He scoffed. ‘Had I showed you what was going to happen would have taken too long. Pines would have fallen onto that fence from much higher than you did and probably would have gotten a nasty concussion, which would make you pissed at me because I was too slow. So I cut out the middle man and acted for you. Your welcome.’ Which was a perfectly reasonable reason and response to this sort of situation for him. Just because he didn’t want to disrupt the sort-of balance they finally had. Yup.**

He sighed, then smirked. “Guess I was just being stupid-glrlge!” **Bill nudged his head so Will got a mouth and noseful of mountain trail faucet water.**   “Bleh!” Coughing and sputtering, Will pulled back. “Yeah okay, that’s enough. Let’s head back and get me some ice for that.”

 

\--------------

 

By the time the four made it down to the parking lot, the sun had set completely. When they had set off from the top of the mountain, it had just begun to set and within less than half an hour, it had been gone completely. They had all gotten out their flashlights when it was actually too dark or too spooky, but for the beginning, they had kept them off and let their eyes adjust. Here and there, they had been able to see fireflies and at one point they had even bean certain that there had been deer in the underbrush, but when they inched closer to get a better look, whatever animal or animals there had been had ran off.

“How was it?” Mrs MacWordply asked when they all settled into the car, Will being somewhat wary of the top part of the doorframe and taking care that it didn’t come anywhere near his still pounding head.

“Great, mom.” Cordy replied. “But Will hit his head, so can we drop him off first so he can put some ice on that?”

“Oh dear, what happened? And sure I can, if you twins don’t mind?”

Both Pines shook their heads, which Cordy’s mom caught in the rear view mirror and nodded. “Alright then!”

The drive back home, Cordy spent telling her mom what they’d been up to today, even including the small bit of rule-breaking that led to the injured party in the car. Mrs MacWordply just shook her head and tsked. “Really, Cordelia. What have we taught you about rule breaking?”

“Do it carefully so there’s no proof.” She grinned.

“And don’t tell your parents!” she exclaimed with mock horror.


	47. Tiny and insignificant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Things are picking up and I have nothing new to say!  
> Enjoy!
> 
> Holly~♥

When Clifford is dropped off at the planetarium by Sam, his dad tells him to have fun before he drives off again. The teen finds Dennis near the entrance to the planetarium, which is a large spherical shape protruding from the hill its located on.

“Hey!” Dennis greets from his seat under a large tree and pats the free space left of him. “Come and sit, we still have a little time before the show starts. I already got ourselves the tickets, so we won’t have to stand in line forever.” He inclines his head towards the considerably long queue already forming at the entrance.

“Woah.” He wouldn’t have thought planetariums were this well-visited.

“It’s a popular program. ‘Wonders of the Cosmos’ it’s called.” He read out from the tickets.

There are three tickets.

“Who else did you invite?”

“What?!” Dennis startles, then sees his mistake. “Oops.” He laughs, then shrugs. “Wirt is coming too.”

Clifford groans and buries his head in his hands.

He’d done well distracting himself with studying the past two days, but he hadn’t thought all that much about what he should say to the other boy.

“Why would you do this to me?” he agonized.

“Well, if you think about it, it’s not just you. We’re doing the same to Wirt Nor was it all my idea.”

“The others were in on this too?”

“Yeah.” Dennis shrugged. “You two need to talk things over. And it would be easier to get you alone if Will wasn’t around for you to hang onto.”

He made a face. “I don’t _hang_ on Will.”

“Well, okay, not as much as before, but you’re still in the normal-level of protectiveness, so…a bit.”

“O-oh come on.” A wavery voice groaned softly nearby. The two boys looked over to the right, where Wirt had walked up to them. From his standpoint, it would have been hard for him to see Clifford until it was too late.

“You did that on purpose.” Clifford accused Dennis, who nodded and shrugged.

“Okay! We’re all here – I already got the ticket, don’t even think about running off – and the show starts in ten, so we should get our seats.” He ushers his friends inside before either can protest.

Inside, they are greeted by a hallway that leads around in an O-shape, with what looks like a shop to the left, and a café to the right. The doors in front of them open to a large circular room in the middle, where the lights are dimmed and many others are already finding their seats.

“This is not what I expected.” Wirt says after they had a look around.

“You haven’t been here before?” Dennis looks excited now. “Oh, this is great! I know Clifford did come here before with his brother, me and Deli, but he doesn’t recall either. This is something new for both of you!”

He had never seen Dennis this excited.

“Is it that good?” he raised a brow.

“If you don’t fall asleep like my mom always does, sure!” He pulls them along once more and enters the room. There, he gestures to a sphere on what looks like stilts in the middle of the room, with lots of short cylinders sticking out of it. “You see that? It’ll project the show up there.” He points at the ceiling, which is one smooth surface stretching all across the room in a spherical shape.

“Errr, won’t that hurt our necks after a while?” Wirt rubs his neck and tilts his head in anticipation of the aching neck they’ll be sure to get by the end of this.

“Here.” Dennis gestures them to a row of seats and hands each of them a ticket while they are distracted by the big room itself. “Sit down and I’ll prove you wrong.”

While getting to their seats, they thankfully don’t have to ask anyone to stand up, as there is more space between the chairs than Clifford would have expected. He also notices than Dennis quickly claims one of the seats at the side of the three they paid for, with an entirely too smug feeling at implementing his plan. Clifford frowns at him, but takes the seat at the other side after Wirt sits down in between the two. The seats are actually really comfortable, much more than cinema chairs, even though they look like those.

“Lever.” Dennis points out, then flips the little lever at the side of the chair and leans back, causing the back of the chair to go down until he’s lying comfortably. “Haah.” He sighs contentedly and grins at them. “No stiff necks here. But, admittedly, it increases the danger of falling asleep. Also a reason why they don’t sell drinks or snacks. The café is great though, we can go eat there afterwards.” He explains as the other two play with their backrests, causing others around them to do the same. At least this explained the gap between the rows of seats.

In the process of finding a comfortable position to actually sit and lie down – the backrest may tilt back, but their feet were still on the floor, so Clifford had to twist around a bit until he was in a position he though he could hold for the rest of-… how long?

“How long does the show go again?” he asks Dennis, inevitable also directing the question at Wirt.

“Dunno. The website said it begins at 2:15 PM, but no word on when it ends.” Dennis shrugs. “Actually, good point. I think I’m gonna make a trip to the bathroom before it starts.”

He’s off before either of them can stand up.

“….”

“.…”

“…Really, what if one of us had to go?” Wirt jokes.

“I don’t.” Clifford shrugged.

“Right, right. Right.” Wirt nods.

“….”

“I didn’t mean t-” “L-Listen, I’m sor-” They both started at the same moment.

“Urgh, sorry, you can go first.” Wirt apologized.

“Why are you trying to apologize?” Clifford frowned. “I was the one who acted like… I don’t know. Like _that_. Maybe I didn’t mean to, but it still hurt you.”

“Y-you are fine. I just-… I overreacted. I needed some time, that wasn’t your fault.”

“But it was.” Wirt had been fine until Clifford had upset him like that. If he hadn’t been so inconsiderate, he would have continued to be fine.

“Well, in a way, maybe, but not really. You just made me realize something.”

“So I-…” was right, he doesn’t say. “Nevermind.”

“No, what is it?”

“I don’t want to restart that entire thing.” Clifford shakes his head and directs his gaze to the blank screen above them, only illuminated by the few dim lights throwing shadows on the ceiling.

“You won’t.” Wirt assures him.

Still, he pauses for a good few moments, breathing deeply and fidgeting with his hands.

“…Did you actually want to hold hands?” he mumbles, getting even quieter at the end.

Perhaps Wirt still heard it, or perhaps he just knew what he was about to ask.

“I wouldn’t mind if we did.” He answers equally quietly.

When Clifford meets his gaze again, Wirt is offering a shy little smile. And by the time Dennis returns – a few seconds after a staff member announces the start of the program – their hands are entwined on the armrest between them.

 

\-------------------------------

 

It _is_ gorgeous.

When the announcement-person finished her introduction speech, the ceiling above them filled up with stars, soft music filled the room and Clifford felt Wirt squeeze his hand softly. He gave a slight squeeze back.

The show is very interesting actually, not just showing nice pictures of stars – which it also does and it’s great – but it also gives information on space travel, on historical discoveries about space, and then continues to go on to explain phenomena that are too far away from earth for him to actually grasp.

There are nebulas, black holes, supernovas and gravitational waves.

In the beginning, it starts off with pictures taken from the earth, ones where they can see the forest or the city at the borders of the screen, but after a while, those are replaced by pictures of their solar system and later on, ones that show the entire milky way. In combination with a series of pictures earlier on that showed their current position on earth before zooming out further and further, the entire thing already got into too large proportions for Clifford to really understand when they left the solar system. And when even their galaxy becomes a speck among other galaxies, he gets a splitting headache.

As in, ‘my brain is splitting apart, help please’.

He hisses and immediately rights his chair, disentangling his fingers from Wirt’s to clutch his head.

“What’s wrong?” Wirt whispers. Clifford shakes his head in response.

“I need some air.” He says, and stands slowly, before sneaking out of the darkened room.

He doesn’t even notice Wirt followed him until they’re outside.

“What happened?” he asks, a little louder now that they’re out of the room.

“I don’t know.” He groans. “I got a headache suddenly.”

They stop by an open window, the fresh air helping a little.

Wirt looks out the window and seems surprised by the setting sun. He goes to check his phone “We were in there for about 45 minutes. Felt like a lot less to me, heh.”

“I think my brain decided it had too much input.” He chuckles weakly.

“Where is the headache the strongest?”

He tries to feel it out. “Here?” he gestures to the back of his head, somewhere more to the left.

“Okay, does it go all over the left side, or…?”

“No, it’s just in that spot. It’s not as bad now.” It’s actually getting better the longer he’s out here.

“Let’s get you something to drink.”

By the time he finished a cup of water from the café, the headache has eased into a dull throb.

“We should get back inside, I don’t want you to miss the rest.” He offers.

“Only if you are actually fine.” Wirt argues. “If you don’t think you’re up to it, that’s fine.”

He nods. “I’ll be okay. And I want to see the rest too.”

When they head back inside, it’s in the middle of an explanation on how gravitational waves disturb spacetime.

 

\---------------------------

 

The show lasted for one and a half hours, and even with his slight headache, Clifford still enjoyed the show.

“Sorry for bailing in the middle, by the way.” He apologized to Dennis once they left the middle room. Outside, it had now gone almost completely dark, and the big windows that went around the circular corridor – and which had made it feel much bigger before – now made it very cosy inside.

“No biggie, I get it. Wanna go get some overpriced knick-knack?” he gestured at the souvenir shop.

Clifford nodded and gave half a shrug. He had some money left still.

Wirt shrugged as well. “Okay.”

There were some DVD’s with space pictures, posters, star maps – on paper and other things such as cups and mouse pads – hats and buttons with the planetariums logo and some books on space.

He didn’t really think he had a use for any of these things, but decided on a whim to get one of the books for Will. Even if the topic didn’t interest him, the pictures were still amazing.

He was looking through said pictures when Wirt came up to him with two star maps.

“What was your favourite part?” he asked with a look down into the book.

He’d found a few of the things that had been shown in the book, so he flipped over the pages until he landed on one of his favourites. “This one.” He pointed.

Wirt made a soft humming noise and nodded. “Those are pretty cool. What’s this one called?”

They skim the description.

“Lagoon Nebula.” Clifford’s read out. “All made by a single star.” He flips a few more pages, then nods and closes the book.

“You’re buying it?” Wirt held up his own items and nodded towards the cash register. “I haven’t paid yet, I don’t know if I should get Greg a normal star map or one for kids.” He frowned. “He’s in that in-between sorta age now.”

“Then get him a normal one. He’ll keep it longer than one for kids.” he suggested.

“Well, yeah. I guess that’s a good idea, huh?” Wirt chuckled.

They met with Dennis while they were standing in line, the other teen having decided not to buy anything. “I’m gonna get cake from the café.” He said.

“Is it any good?” Wirt asked.

“Sure, pretty decent. What do you say, Clifford? Up to grabbing a bite to eat before we call our parents to pick us up?”

In general agreement, the two finished paying for their souvenirs and followed Dennis to the café, where they picked a table at the window and ordered some drinks and cake. Estimating to be done eating in about half an hour, they messaged or called their parents to pick them up around 5:30 PM.

“So, what do you guys say?” Dennis grinned at them. “Was that cool?”

“Pretty much, sure.” Clifford shrugged as Wirt nodded.

“C’mon, guys, give me something substantial! What was your favourite part?”

“The part before the headache?” Clifford joked. The other two laughed, then Dennis apologized.

“Really, man, that was some bad luck. What even happened there?”

“Maybe my brain just couldn’t handle space and decided to take a hammer to the inside of my skull to escape.” Because that’s a little what it felt like. “I don’t know, just came pretty suddenly. It was very disconcerting, that part where they shoved into your face how tiny you are on the earth and how tiny the earth is to everything around it. It’s scary.” He cut off any further blabbering with a forkful of cake. It was pretty good.

“Yeah, I think it’s great.” Dennis chuckled. “Reminds you that any upcoming tests won’t be so bad or important as you make them out to be. Puts things into perspective, right?”

“I guess so.” Wirt replies. “But it’s too bad we can’t really see much of the stars in the city.” He cast a look outside, where the lights from inside got only a few steps from the building before fading to darkness, the sky above an inky black with only the faintest glimmer of the brighter stars.

“We did see some stars on Halloween.” Clifford felt he had to remind him.

“But nothing like those pictures they showed that are taken far away from the light pollution. Did you ever- well never mind, probably not yet- but if you ever go camping somewhere away from any big cities, try and compare the night sky, because what you can see in the city after a few minutes of concentration, you get there the moment you look up. I saw the milky way once and _that_ was amazing.”

Obviously, since waking from his coma, he hadn’t gone camping, but a couple of memories did resurface during Wirt’s description, the words blending over the pictures he pulled from the depths of his mind. There really was no good comparison between the two, the stars in the city _were_ far less bright than those he saw on the odd camping trip or two.

“I know what you mean!” Dennis agreed. “He’s completely right, by the way.” He said to Clifford. “It’s actually rather exhausting trying to stargaze in the city. For me at least. I can’t stare at darkness for long enough.” He joked.

They finished their food and drinks, still deep in discussion when Wirt’s mother called to let him know she had arrived. The trio paid, then went outside to wait to say goodbye and wait for their own rides home.

“I had fun.” Wirt said. “Sorry for bailing on The Elite. By the way. Th-think you can add me back in? No more drama from me, p-promise.” He laughed nervously.

Dennis nodded, already pulling out his phone. “Sure thing, and don’t worry, if you need some time just tell us next time.”

Wirt nodded thankfully, then waved and ran off to the waiting car.

“See, all good now.” Dennis smirked.

“Yes, yes. Hush up.” He hit his friend's shoulder lightly. “It would have been fine.”

“Yeah, but the difference is ‘would have been’ or ‘is’, so you have no reason to complain.”

 

**Dennis added Wirt to the group**

 

\----------------------

 

“What the fuck happened to you!?” Clifford let a rare curse slip when he spotted his twin on the couch, an icepack tied to his head and a bowl of ice cream in hand, watching TV.

“I fell.” He said dryly after muting the TV. “Aaaand hit my head on a metal pole.” He gestured to the back of his head.

Clifford walked up behind Will and took a look at the other’s wrapped up head. A strange thought came to him when he saw the placement of the ice pack. “That wouldn’t have been around three?”

Will twisted around and looked at him oddly. “Yeeaaahh? I think so? Checking the time wasn’t my top priority you know.” He raised a brow.

“Why are you talking like that?” Clifford asked at the strain on the last sentence.

“Like what? Maybe it’s because my brain hurts?” he grumbled and shovelled a spoon of ice cream into his mouth.

He sighed. “Did you have fun otherwise?” he asked and rounded the couch to take a seat next to his brother.

“Well, yeah, actually.” He nodded. “We found a stream, had an amazing view from the mountain top and maybe we even saw some deer in the woods, but it was already getting too dark to tell then. … Oh, and I accidentally broke a bridge by walking over it.” he grumbled. “It was rigged, I swear.”

He had _that air_ about him again. “To whom am I talking right now?”

“Both of us? The last but Bill enjoys getting the last word at the moment.” Will paused for a moment, then sighed heavily. “And now he’s just trying to prove me wrong.”

Clifford nodded. During their talk the other day, he’d simply came out and told his twin Mabel had told him the demons name. There had been some indignant huffing on said demons part, but otherwise the topic hadn’t really been discussed. “I’m just saying, I think I’m learning to tell the difference by now.”

Will- Or that was Bill, probably, smirked. “I bet I could get you to get it wrong.”

“Then you won’t get an gifts.”

“You got me a gift?” the grin was all Will now. “What is it?”

He gestured for him to wait, then stood to get the book from where he set it down on the kitchen table. “Here.”

“Woah, nice.” Will smiled and concentrated on the book and the pictures. He flipped through a few and hummed contentedly. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

So apparently Bill was not a fan of space pics. Since this was a gift for Will, Clifford didn’t really care too much.

“How was the tour by the way?” Will asked.

“It wasn’t actually a tour, it was a show.” Clifford explained. “They projected the stars on the ceiling and you could lie back in these really comfortable seats. And then they basically gave a tour of a lot of cool space dust and black holes and supernovas and stuff. It was pretty awesome until I got that massive headache right in the middle.”

“Why that?” Will asked.

“I didn’t exactly know. Now-… I have a crazy theory.” He tapped the part of his head that still ached slightly, the exact spot of Will’s injury.

“What, seriously?” Will raised a brow. “Well, guess I can’t really judge. In that case, you deserve an apology too.”

There was a moment of silence, then he nodded. “I didn’t get one either, though.”

“It’s the demons fault?” Just because he knew his name didn’t mean he always used it.

“Yep.” He popped the ‘p’. “In a way? Although it might have been Dipper otherwise. Being in this condition or worse, I mean. So, _I’m_ sorry you somehow got some of _that_ as well.” He gestured at his ice pack.

After they flipped through a few more pictures, he came to halt on one of the pictures, one of what the book named the ‘Crab Nebula’

“I saw the messages by the way. I’m glad you and Wirt made up.”

Clifford grimaced. “I don’t even think we really fought? Felt more like a misunderstanding. We haven’t actually talked about it much.”

“Well, whatever it was, I think it solved itself pretty well then.” He smiled softly, then returned his gaze to the book. “Did it look any good? Just projecting the pictures to the ceiling?”

 

\------------------------

 

**While Clifford told Will about how great the show had actually been, Bill absentmindedly took note of the missing person report running on the TV, then dismissed it shortly after.**

**Despite the fact that he had seen many of these sorts of pictures himself, not actually by being there had made them somehow less impressive, just as the photos in the book were doing. Still, now without even a hint of a chance that he would ever see these things up close for himself, he thought he could settle for some pictures in a book.**

**And maybe, at some point, a look with a restored Sight.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS:  
> New interesting development of the formatting (I should probably make a key for that now…):  
> Clifford hearing Bill is now underlined.
> 
> And btw if you want more space pic’s go to NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/multimedia/index.html  
> Seriously I could just muck about there looking at space for ages <3


	48. And then there was this other thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Did you read the new 'In Between' Chapter yet? It's number 14, and it takes place somewhere in the middle of this chapter.  
> A lot of things are happening now. I hope you enjoy it >:D
> 
> Holly~♥

KRACK-BOOM!!

**_They awoke at 4 AM on Monday to Armaggedon happening right outside their window._ **

**_Startled by the sudden noise, they were out of bed immediately and went for the window._ **

**_“Holy Fuck.” they whispered as they peeked out to observe the darkness in the garden. When thunder cracked just overhead and lightning lit up the blackness, it didn’t improve what they saw, as it was raining so hard it was impossible to even see the garden hedge properly. Perhaps it was even hailing, but the lightning flashes were so short, it was hard to tell._ **

BANG!

**_A yelp escaped them when the door to their room slammed open and Clifford stumbled in, immediately latching onto them._ **

**_“Fucking hell.” He whispered and_** **h** e **l** d **t** h **e** m **c** l **o** s **e**. **T** h **e** n **e** a **r** n **e** s **s** o **f** a **n** o **t** h **e** r **p** e **r** s **o** n **w** a **s** a **c** t **u** a **l** l **y** q **u** i **t** e **c** o **m** f **o** r **t** i **n** g-

**‘Yeah no.’ Upon realizing the new level of _Merge_ their sudden and simultaneous launch into flight-or-fight had caused, he quickly withdrew and threw up the barrier again.**

**Had he seriously taken it down while they were sleeping? That was-**

**Bill didn’t even know what that was.**

Will on the other hand barely spared a thought to what had just occurred – something along the lines of ‘woah, too bad that’s over now’ – since he was actually quite shaken by the sudden storm that was happening outside.

“Wanna go get mom and dad?” he asked Clifford with a soft pull at the other’s shoulder.

Upon receiving a nod, they went downstairs, meeting Annie halfway down.

“Are you two okay?” she asked. They both nodded and she smiled at them. “Crazy weather huh? Want to come watch chaos happen?”

Despite it being four in the morning, the family gathered in the living room with cups of tea to watch the storm unfold from their patio door. Every once in a while, one of the four made a soft noise of awe at natures upheaval.

It kept hailing for a good fifteen minutes before the sky stopped throwing ice chunks at the earth. The pieces that landed in seeing distance ranged from pea-sized to grape-sized. The rain kept going strong for another twenty minutes or so, wind howling in the background – ripping limbs of trees and taking any loose and light things on a journey – before that too, slowly lessened.

By this time, all of them had calmed down from the sudden shock and as the adrenaline worked its way out of their systems, one by one, the family members began to tire again. Saying a few quick ‘Good night’s, they each went their respective ways and returned to their beds.

Once Will’s head hit his pillow, he was once again out like a light, only a soft thrumming of rain against the roof left as proof of the sudden awakening, not even an hour before.

 

\-------------

 

The next morning, Will never had a chance to brush the whole thing off as a dream. First, a look out the windows of their home confirmed that the streets were now littered with twigs, branches, leaves, bits of plastic and a couple tipped over trashcans. Second, their parents were in the living room watching the morning news, everyone befuddled by the weather phenomenon that had not been anticipated in the least.

According to the weather forecast, it should have stayed sunny for the next few days, marking the last few sunny days before a week of rain. The pictures shown in the news that morning were the recordings of what had taken place in the atmosphere last night. The clouds that shouldn’t have arrived at Piedmont for another couple days had suddenly conglomerated, some even changing their course in freakishly unnatural ways, only to unload all over the town. The result would be at least another week without rain, as were the calculations of the meteorologists. From what Will could gather of the discussions happening across several channels, no one quite gave any merit to anything the meteorologists said and chalked the whole thing up to climate change.

The third would have been that everyone at school was talking about it. Unsurprisingly, the storm appeared to have woken up the entire town, and everyone was eager to give their version of events.

“-and Jesus Christ I thought the world was ending! It was so loud-”

“-for a minute I was like: what the fuck, did Voldemort return while no one was watching?”

“I couldn’t even see anything!”

“-I actually went outside for a few moments, got hit by the hail and decided to go back inside-”

“-was fucking scary, I put on headphones and tried to go back to sleep. Didn’t really work to be honest…”

“Okay, everyone!” the teacher stood from where he’d been waiting at the desk until it was time to start class. Conversations around the room were slowly halted. “I know everyone is either riled up or missing some sleep, but-” he dropped a wad of papers on his desk, making a hush fall over the room as everyone processed what those were. “You still have a math test.”

There were a couple softly uttered curses and groans, most of the students having clearly forgotten all about it before now.

“Yes, yes. Now settle down and get ready. Phones off and away, no turning over the test before everyone has -” as he continued to give them instructions, Mr Witt handed out the test papers upside down all across the room.

 

\------------------------

 

During their break, they had a short, almost obligatory chat with Cordelia and Dennis about the storm, then the others – Wirt included – arrived and soon after, the group fell back into easy companionship, trading their fruit and vegetables.

“Okay, is anyone gonna mention it?” Dennis asked.

“What?” Clifford raised his head.

“The missing person posters? Does anyone of you walk to school? Wirt, I know you do.”

“She probably ran away.” Dipper frowned. “Always wanted to anyways.”

“What’s going on?” Clifford asked, equally as confused as Will.

“Are you talking about Anna?” Cordelia raised a brow. “I saw it on TV yesterday. Her parents put out the posters and report, so I’d say that’s possible.”

Clifford frowned, recalling the girl who had been looking for her on Halloween. He told the others about the occurrence. “One of her friends was worried about her on Halloween. Said she couldn’t find her.” He raised his head and looked around the yard, suddenly curious. Of course, if she hadn’t known where the girl was on Halloween, he doubted she would know now – when she was officially missing – and not tell anyone.

“There you have it.” Dipper gestured. “She’s left town unannounced before, mostly she comes back after a day or so.” He shrugged and let out a heavy sigh. “Could we not talk about this now?”

“Sorry.” Dennis apologized to him. “I was just a little concerned.”

“You don’t have to be, she’ll turn up sooner or later.”

A little bit of silence, Will asked the others about their night.

“That was terrifying and awesome at the same time.” Wirt nodded.

“I feared the world might be ending.” Mabel deadpanned, then she chuckled nervously.

Cordelia laughed. “That’s what Will said!”

Conversation was more pleasant for the rest of the break. The remaining classes passed in that strange way that was both fast and snail’s pace, and before he knew it, their little writers' group – Wirt, Dipper and himself – met with Mabel and Will at the school gates.

 

\---------------

 

It hadn’t been the best talk, but at least Mabel had accepted that the two of them had become a package deal.

‘I kinda wanna give her a peace offering.’ Will contemplated when their brothers approached with Wirt.

**‘Like what?’ Bill scoffed.**

A few things came to mind, but for some reason, he settled on the little stone shop.

**‘Kid, I don’t think she was that into it. And didn’t you start all of this with that pebble?’ If the brat thought he could stuff him away again.**

‘Exactly. I’m sure we can find something that helps us both. And something that calms Mabel down a little.’ He admitted the secondary motive for settling on the stone idea.

**‘…Sneaky. I like it.’ Bill snickered.**

“Hey, do you guys have some time?” he asked the others. After all, he hadn’t shown Dipper or Wirt the shop either.

“Why?” Clifford asked.

“I wanted to show you guys something,” he gestured at Wirt and Dipper, “there’s this little shop-”

“The stone shop?” Clifford rolled his eyes with a good-natured groan.

“What?” Wirt frowned. “W-who buys stones?”

Clifford gestured at Will, who crossed his arms and pretended to be more offended than he actually was. “They’re _gems_ , for your information. And Clifford is the one who gets seeds for tea from there.”

“I’m up for it.” Clifford shrugged.

“And you guys?” Will asked hopefully.

“Er… maybe? It sounds…different?” Wirt seemed unconvinced.

Mabel hummed thoughtfully. “Only if…” she pauses to think. “…I get to buy you a stone, which you have to wear for a day.” She smirked.

**‘Say no.’**

“Okay.” Will sighed.

**‘This might end horribly.’**

‘Yup.’ He still wanted to try. Also, perhaps she’ll take it back if he appeases her first.

**‘Unlikely.’**

“Well, if everyone goes, sure.” Dipper nodded.

 

\-------------

 

**He hadn’t been able to stop her _or_ Will. **

**However, at least he had been wrong about changing her mind.**

**Will had immediately gone in search of a stone for her, and all but abandoned the others to their own exploration of the shop.**

**He quickly understood what the other was searching for and pointed out a smalls stand of Amber necklaces that consisted of several small and different kinds of Amber.**

‘Why that one?’

**‘Amber as a whole heightens creativity and brings a little luck. It calms and helps someone accept change. And there are additional fields each colour of Amber aids in. Brown Amber placates, yellow heightens trust.’**

**He quickly looked through the different necklaces and ignored those with red Amber in them. ‘Red would just strengthen her resolve, and black is usually a great help with Grief, but it helps ease Fears as well. I can’t see any white in these, but that wouldn’t really help or hinder anyways. Here.’ He pulled out one that is mostly yellow and brown Amber beads, with some black in between.**

**On a whim, he also picked up a black Amber from one of the boxes.**

‘What-’

**‘We should be buying something for us too.’**

**Thankfully, Will hadn’t continued to ask and the necklace had been a good idea. Even though she still insisted on making them wear a stone, she could’ve picked something worse. After receiving the jewellery, she had given them a long and thoughtful, if confused look, then continued with her search.**

**Until the others were ready to pay, Will started to chat with the old lady, who looked like she hadn’t slept a wink – probably due to the storm, old people seemed like they had a tendency to keel over from simple changes in the weather.**

**Pines came over first, and it appeared he had picked his two stones on how flashy they looked, not on what they actually did. A Ulexite, which gave an attentiveness that he really didn’t need and also carried the name ‘TV-Stone’. A mildly interesting physical trait of the stone was that it transmitted the image of what was beneath it unto its top surface – hence it being called ‘TV-Stone’. A Bismuth, more metal than stone that shimmered in rainbow colours and aids in easing isolation – perhaps a stone that actually fitted Pine Tree.**

**Wirt and Clifford did not actually get stones, they both got seeds and seemed to be getting along well again.**

**Why did he care about that again? And why wouldn’t he?**

**Bill wasn’t quite sure about that anymore. It seemed like he was losing and gaining … something, but he could not tell what.**

**Mabel got them an Agate.**

**He couldn’t help but blanch.**

“Be happy I didn’t pick Bulls Eye Agate.” She fixed him with a stern look.

**He had to hand it to her: she could be wicked. Bulls Eye might kill them. He was not quite sure, but if it was just him in the body, it would definitely be the equivalent of getting stabbed and dumped on the streets.**

**This one wasn’t one he could recognize on sight though, and he had been careful to stay away from the Agates in the shop. The one Mabel picked out was brown, grey and white, and cut in a disk with a hole in it, presumably for the leather string she had also purchased.**

“What is it?” Will asked. Bill was appalled enough that he could actually feel it.

She frowned. “Brazilian.”

“What does it do?”

She handed it over by the string. Will took it **, thankfully careful to not touch the disk.**

**Balance. Harmony. Strength, of all things.**

**Why this one? He raised a brow at the girl and put it on. Fine then.**

“You have to wear it for a whole 24 hours.” She warned and checked the time. “Can’t take it off until 3:30 tomorrow.”

“Er, we have gym tomorrow.” That nothing happened so far was something he took as a good sign.

“Fine, you can take it off for that.” She relented.

\-----------------------------

**_They startled awake the next morning._ **

**_Oh. Right._ **

**Bill _forgot Agate was a slow acting one._**

 

\------------------

 

Will was off on Tuesday morning. Clifford watched him closely, and it seemed like he was both calmer and tenser than usual.

“Good morning?” he offered.

“Morning.”

“Excuse me?” he must have misheard.

“We said morning.”

“Yeah, I heard.” It was hard not to, despite only really being aware of it for a few days. The off feeling that accompanied the demon's voice had merged with the feeling that told him it was Will speaking.

“Really?”

“The difference is both there and not. It’s freaky.”

“Well, hurray, let’s hope you’re the only one.” He grumbled and ate his breakfast in silence.

“What did you do?”

“We didn’t do anything, we promised Mabel to wear her stupid Agate, remember?”

“That’s what it does?” He didn’t actually know what _that_ was, but it didn’t seem good.

“If you mean whether it puts us on the same page or not, it does. The interesting part is that we don’t really know how to feel about that yet.”

“Okay.” He frowned. “If you don’t want to pull any attention to it, stop saying ‘we’ when you’re talking about yourself-…ves.”

“Oh, did we? Ah, we- I did. Oh.” He made a stunned, but pleased face. “That actually makes it easier for me. And a lot scarier for us. Am I making any sense?” he asked.

“To anyone else, no. But I think I get it.” he pulled his shoulders up.

 

\----------------

 

**_Bless Clifford for that suggestion. Referring to themselves – merged together as they were – as a separate person was both a blessing and a curse. Sure, they – or he? 'They' seemed more comfortable as for now, perhaps only for the simple reason that they were, in fact, two people. Anyway, they could still feel each part of them somewhere, a strange mix of thoughts coming from both and merging to somehow find middle ground._ **

**_And they heard all of them. And each other. And them._ **

**_It might not make sense if said aloud._ **

**_One was ecstatic, a voice shouting how_** ‘This is way better then I remember!’ ** _, but there was also the_** _Fear **whispering underneath, because**_ there surely is a way to lose yourself here, what if we never want to take off that stone now?

**‘Why did you even agree to this?’ _hid the_ _actual thoughts of how_ he was losing himself so much more, what if he never turned up again, but oh, this is so much easier than before.**

**_And you are both thinking the same thing, just the other way around. Why aren’t_** you ** _more scared? Why do_ you _not let yourself enjoy this?_**

**_For once, the thoughts drift quietly, and they are more aware of themselves than before._ **

**_Rather a sad thing that this revelation had to come during breakfast. They quirked a smile. They had their brother to thank for that – and yes, he is_** **your _brother too, now. It was rather strange to think of themselves as a separate entity from_ Bill _and_** Will ** _, but it made it easier to think this way. They wouldn’t become the same thing, they’d just make a third person that was both of them equally and they wouldn’t argue anymore about so much._**

**_Alright, so when they arrived at school, all they wanted was to run for it – they didn’t need it intellectually – but they stayed, because it was enjoyable to have some friendly company_ ** **again _._**

**_A few hours after rising in the morning, they felt like they had gotten a handle on things. They showed Mabel the necklace in their first period of French to prove they kept their promise and she asked if it had done anything yet._ **

**_Maybe laughing at her hadn’t been the best idea, but they felt better afterwards._ **

**_“Yeah, something happened alright. Do you really wanna hear what it was? Is? Gonna be?” Both of their parts were still there, separately – in a way – and they were having great fun cooperating, actually. They felt like they could do this more often, now that they had Merged – it felt like something that warranted mental capitalisation – and since their respective parts hadn’t disappeared into the Void – thank the stars. “Because I’m totally keeping this. Not all the time, but sometimes.” They kept talking as they thought. Maybe work on that._ **

**_In their second class of the day, when they finished the test they had, they didn’t hand in the sheet as_** Will ** _did the other day, but stayed and_ Watched _. They had to pull themselves together to not start laughing at some of the answers they could_ See _on their classmates' tests. It would have been useless to them to use_ Bills _abilities to cheat, but it certainly made for a more entertaining way to spend the rest of the period._**

**_So, the day had been going great._ **

“She’s dead.”

**_What? They gazed at Cordelia, who was frowning down at her uneaten and unshared lunchbox._ **

“W-what?” **_Wirt voiced their thoughts aloud._**

“I heard it in class.” **_She said in a low voice._** “A few students saw the body on their way to school.” **_Mabel made a face and Pines hissed softly._**

 ** _Clifford asked with a frown._** “Who are you talking about?”

 ** _She looked up at them with a worried look in her eyes._** “Anna.”

**_Dennis inhaled a carrot and Pines’ lunchbox overbalanced on his lap before it fell to the ground._ **

“Excuse me?” **_Mabel asked in a shrill and panicked tone._**

 ** _Cordy swallowed._** “Someone killed Anna, basically carved up the body and left her at a station. A rush hour station. She was found this morning.”

“Fuck.” **_Dennis finally dislodged the offending piece of food from his lungs._**

“Mm-hmm.” **_Pines nodded weakly, looking slightly sick._**

**_Of course, he hadn’t had any reason to take her disappearance that seriously. None of them had, for that matter._ **

“S-so, please correct me if I’m overreacting, b-but, er-” **_Wirt stammered._** “Someone from our school just got kidnapped and then murdered? And from what Clifford said about Halloween- within the span of…less than a week?” **_The last part escaped as a squeak._**

**_Their group sat in silence as they all processed the news. “Perhaps you misheard. Or someone is just trying to play a prank.” They tried to ease the tension, and worse yet, the sudden worry and fear. “If it’s true, the news will cover it.”_ **

“You’re right.” ** _Cordy nodded, and they were only able to be relieved for about two seconds before she went for her phone._**

**_Then she proved that it had actually happened and now they had a solid reason to be glum._ **

**_Clifford sighed._** “Okay, I’m going to be an awful person, but… was she important to us in any way?”

“Clifford!” **_Cordy scolded._**

 ** _Pines shook his head and frowned._** “No, he’s right. I have no reason to feel bad other than what Wirt said. Someone got kidnapped, probably _at our school_ , while we were having a party.”

“Fuck.” **_Dennis said again._**

“Fuck.” **_Everyone else agreed._**

**_The rest of their day was spent in pondering._ **

\-----------------------

 

**_Right. They almost forgot the no-jewellery rule in Gym._ **

**_Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. After getting caught by the teacher, they snuck off to the box that held their classmates' phones, necklaces, earrings and watches and stuff._ **

**_And a one, and a two-_ **

Will dully placed the necklace in the box and rejoined the class in their warm-up. For once, Bill didn’t seem to have anything to say. Neither did he, anyways. Too much was and had been happening today.

At least he felt like he understood his brain-roomie better now. That had to be a positive thing, right?

He wasn’t quite sure.

 

\--------------------------------

 

**He didn’t put the necklace back on that day. Or the next. Bill didn’t want to anyways.**

**Many kids got picked up on Tuesday. It was worse on Wednesday, once the news had gotten around that a student had been killed.**

**The headmistress had to intervene to get everyone home safely, but it had been a little funny to watch everyone scramble about while the few who walked home – Will and Clifford included – just skipped past that whole mess.**

**Bill also decided to keep a look out more often. If they were right with their parental instincts, he didn’t want to find out what happened if Will’s body died.**

**Would he get a chance to find a new host? And running the danger of disappearing as he searched for it?**

**Or would he die as well?**

**He preferred to play it safe.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd also like to extend a thank you to Rebecca Sugar and the Steven Universe Fandom as a whole because I would have been stuck on some parts of this chapter for ages otherwise.  
> Thank you for creating Fusion and for writing confused 'What Am I'-Fusion-dialogue.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading ~♥  
> I would love any reviews, so please don't hesitate to tell me honestly what you think  
> Bye-Bye! (^w^)/


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